Hurricane Fiona continues barreling through the Caribbean, gaining strength. Now a Category 4 storm, it’s expected to make a direct hit on Bermuda after devastating Puerto Rico, as well as wreaking havoc on the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The storm has killed at least four people. According to the National Weather Service, Fiona may have set a 24-hour rainfall record, dumping more than 2 feet in parts of Puerto Rico. Most of the island remains in the dark, with no power and no running water.
In New Jersey, home to one of the nation’s largest Puerto Rican populations, people are ramping up aid efforts five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
Councilman Carlos Torres of Elizabeth, president of the Puerto Rican Alliance of Elizabeth, said the Puerto Rican parade scheduled for Sunday will become more a relief effort than a festival. There will be a trailer where people can drop off donations.
Griselle Ponce, president of Newark’s Puerto Rican Day Parade, which took place last Sunday, said, “We prepared for eight months for this amazing celebration and then we were feeling nostalgia, like how do we celebrate when we have families in danger.” The organization is collecting food and monetary donations for the relief effort, Ponce said.
