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The ‘Forgotten Ones’: 37 days after hurricane, Puerto Rico neighborhood still stranded
McClatchy DC
The cluster of houses perched on a hill overlooking the Arecibo River in Puerto Rico’s central mountain region used to be known as Río Abajo.
Then Hurricane Maria hit, turning the river into a ferocious torrent that wiped out the concrete bridge connecting the neighborhood to the nearby town of Utuado. For 15 days, as their water supply dwindled and their health worsened, residents waited for help to arrive. And when it didn’t come, they baptized the neighborhood with a new name: El Campamento de los Olvidados, the Camp of the Forgotten Ones.
Now, at the edge of the broken bridge, a Puerto Rican flag flaps in the wind. Below it, on a cardboard sign, the new name has been neatly stenciled in red spray paint.
On Friday, 37 days after the storm, the residents of Río Abajo were still stranded. They now have plenty of food and water: the National Guard, the Red Cross, government officials and dozens of volunteers have brought supplies, which residents ferry across the divide using a zip-line they’ve rigged from a cable and a shopping cart.