Old North News

Hurricane Fiona made landfall far away from North Carolina, but people in the Tar Heel State are worried about relatives who live in Puerto Rico.

"Puerto Rico never recovered from Maria (in 2017),” Cristhian Espinosa, a resident of Smithfield, told ABC News 11.

Hurricane Fiona, which hit the island last weekend, compounded the misery Hurricane Maria left behind.

"It was raining for 20 to 30 hours," he said, according to ABC 11 News. “People lost cars. People almost drowning because of the landslides. Homes were lost because of landslides. Lot of the roads are completely destroyed.”

Espinosa has family in Salinas, a city on the southern end of the island. He said they underestimated the magnitude of the storm and the potential for landslides.

After Hurricane Maria slammed the island five years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) allocated $28 billion to Puerto Rico's rebuilding efforts. It took 18 months to fully restore power. While people waited for the necessary infrastructure repairs, they had to rely on generators. 

There are other North Carolinians who plan to help with this storm’s recovery efforts.

"We're going to rally and run toward the disaster,” Phil Harris -- who, along with the Sandhills Red Cross, is heading there with several bilingual volunteers from across the state -- told ABC 11 News. “Their role is damage assessment. They're basically going door-to-door to find out which homes are livable and which homes are destroyed."

While Maria left many people homeless, some fear Fiona could be worse, as communication remains an issue with families waiting to hear whether their loved ones are safe.

"Money doesn't do anything now,” Espinosa said, according to ABC 11 News. “We need to connect with nonprofits either there or here that are willing to go to refugee camps. There are plenty of people who need food, water and clothes.”