Exiled in Florida: the Puerto Ricans struggling to build a new life off island
For the more than 300,000 people who fled after Hurricane Maria the Sunshine State proved to be no Disney World but they are poised to have an electoral impact in the midterms
Huddled with her family listening to Hurricane Maria’s 115mph winds tearing apart their residential community in Caguas, Claudia Sofía Báez’s 18th birthday was not the coming of age celebration she had anticipated. When the deadly winds and rain subsided and it was finally safe to leave their storm-battered house, a scene of complete devastation greeted them.
“It looked like a bomb had fallen,” Báez said. “It was pure destruction, the town was destroyed. I couldn’t recognise it. Absolutely nothing was the same.”
Faced with months of no electricity, running water or gasoline, and six-hour lines at the supermarket for even the most basic supplies, the Báez family made the only decision they could: sending Claudia,
