‘There was no way to get out’

Dayann McDonough, of Merrick, had planned to bury her 92-year-old grandmother, Carmelina Vazquez, at Puerto Rico’s National Cemetery on Sept. 19 — but Hurricane Maria interrupted the funeral.

In August, McDonough had buried her father, Edwin, a sergeant who served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Vietnam War, who had died a month earlier, at the National Cemetery. She was his only child and next of kin, and therefore responsible for the funeral arrangements. When Vazquez died, McDonough wanted to bury her in the same cemetery and, in September, traveled to the U.S. territory with her daughter Brianna, a Calhoun High School junior.

“I wanted my daughter to see Puerto Rico and see where that side of the family is from,” McDonough said.

The two stayed at a resort in Las Palmas del Mar, a vacation destination in Humacao. Although they knew that a hurricane was approaching, McDonough said, they did not predict that it would devastate the country as it did, especially after they had made it through Hurricane Sandy without sustaining much damage in 2012.

“It didn’t become apparent how bad the storm was going to be until 10 to 12 hours before it hit,” McDonough said.

Hurricane Maria slammed into the center of Puerto Rico on Sept. 19, and six days later, Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló declared a “humanitarian crisis.” More than 50 deaths were directly attributed to the hurricane, but on Nov. 9, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told The New York Times that there were nearly 500 hurricane-related deaths in September. An example of such a death was a person who might have died because the power was out and a respirator stopped working.

Within days, the McDonoughs began running low on food and water at Las Palmas del Mar. The electricity was out, and the radio towers were knocked down, rendering communication with home nearly impossible. McDonough described staggering images of entire forests that were uprooted, people looting the resort for supplies and helicopters airlifting people out of the wreckage.

Eventually, the government enforced an island-wide curfew of 5 p.m. to prevent accidents in the dark and to crack down on looters. “There was no way to get out,” McDonough said. “We weren’t able to tell our family that we were alive.”

Before Sept. 20, McDonough had been calling her husband Brian each night and speaking with their sons, Donovan and Douglas, both of whom have autism and are not used to being separated from their mother, she said. During the storm, however, both of her sons drew their own conclusions after days without communication. Donovan began printing “Missing Person” fliers, and Douglas had declared his mother and sister dead.

Many U.S. veterans had self-deployed to Puerto Rico to provide aid in the wake of President Donald Trump’s refusal to give it, according to an article published on CNN.com on Oct. 19. Some of the veterans, who wanted to remain anonymous, stayed at Las Palmas del Mar with a generator. They allowed the McDonoughs to watch the news on television, provided them with a ride to the San Juan airport and let them make a brief phone call.

The McDonoughs booked a flight to Orlando on Oct. 1 and returned to the airport to see Salvation Army volunteers handing out food, water and blankets. From Orlando, the two secured seats on a flight back home the next day.

McDonough returned to Puerto Rico, alone, on Nov. 14 to hold a proper funeral for her grandmother. The week before leaving, she shared her story with the Herald. “I don’t know what I’m going come back to,” she said. “There are still people out there who are still in need of help, and they’re not getting it, and they’re dying.”

Similar to what she witnessed after Sandy struck, however, McDonough said that she has seen hope reflected in the relief efforts of community members, organizations and individual people. Brianna, an aspiring musician, added that she has seen help provided by musicians as well.

Those seeking to get involved can reach out to the following organizations: Team RUBICON

Warfighters Disaster Relief team

Jason Maddy and Veterans DISASTER Recovery

Veterans 4 Puerto Rico

UNICEF USAVoices

UNICEF Children's Fund

Assemblies of God Mission San Juan Puerto Rico, pastor Pizarro

Greenpeace Just Recovery

CARITAS Catholic Charities Puerto Rico

Hispanic Federation