Being from Minnesota, the roughest weather I would have ever expected to face are blizzards and a hailstorm every once in a while. Even when I decided to volunteer in Puerto Rico, worry of a possible hurricane was barely in my mind. After my first couple weeks here, that all changed. The forecast showed a tropical storm, named Fiona, was heading in the direction of Puerto Rico. Being a Minnesotan, and not prepared to deal with a hurricane, my first instinct was to worry. Luckily, Bill and Reneé were calm and collected about the whole ordeal. They had both lived through hurricane Maria, a category 5 storm that devastated the island. With their direction and assurance, I was able to calm my anxiety and get ready to face the storm.
The morning before Fiona was supposed to hit Puerto Rico, Bill informed us that the first thing we would have to do is cut down the power usage of the inn. Because of the impending storm, the power would likely be out and we would have to rely on solar power supplemented with a generator, meaning that it would be essential for us to cut back. We spent the first hour of the morning unplugging refrigerators and fans in all of the suites, moving food from refrigerators to the only refrigerator that would remain on. We would have to be very mindful of our power usage, something neither of us have had to worry about before.
The next step of preparing for a hurricane is to find every single thing that could possibly blow away and make sure that it no longer can. This includes the lounge chairs out by the pool, the glass tables, the trash cans, anything out sitting on tables, even small things that would be difficult to think of, like caution signs. Everything needed to be put away. The next thing was closing all of the windows. The Rainforest Inn has four beautiful suites and protecting them from any damage was top priority. We went around to every room, closing all of the windows, making sure that no water could possibly get in.
Once all of our main tasks of preparation were complete, we did one more examination of the property, double checking to make sure that nothing was laying out. We then took to our rooms and waited for the storm to hit.
Hurricane Fiona took her sweet time and did not touch us until early the next morning. When I woke up, the service was out, making it impossible to reach anyone, or have any updates about the storm, other than the occasional emergency alert. The winds began to pick up as well as the rain. It was like this all day. In our rooms, where we were sheltered from the storm, the sound of the rain was honestly very peaceful. Up in the rainforest we were lucky. I did not realize how devastating Fiona had been towards Puerto Rico until the next day when cell service came back on.
A video of the inn during the hurricane.
I awoke to news reports about how Fiona had ravaged the island of Puerto Rico. I read about the flooding and all of the people who had to be rescued.
The Rainforest Inn stood strong throughout the storm. There were a couple losses, such a beautiful papaya tree in the garden, as well as slight flooding in one of the suites. We started by cleaning up the flooding. I then accompanied Bill down the road in order to help his neighbors clear the road up to their houses. Two large trees had fallen down, and the community was helping to clear them. With chainsaws, they cut the branches, and I would help move these branches out of the road. It was heartening to see the community after a storm like Maria, cleaning up the road so people could get down in case of emergency. The work wasn’t easy either, even though the winds were gone, rain was still coming down.
Bill and Reneé’s friend (blue) and I (orange) help to clear out the road the day following the storm.
Additional Photo of the trees blocking the road.
Once the road was cleared off, the papaya tree was the next thing to clean up. Using a machete, we chopped at the remains of the tree, clearing them from the garden. Again, the work was not easy, but it was important that the tree was cleaned up so the garden could be restored. Then, just like the day before the storm, we combed the property, this time picking up any branches or rubble that the storm had blown in and disposing of it, in order to make the inn as beautiful as it was in the days leading up to the storm.
In the following days, the physical signs the storm had left behind were gone. The inn was as beautiful as ever. However, Fiona had not let us off that easily. A power line had fallen on the road up to the inn and this would leave us with no power indefinitely. The water was also turned off in the days following the storm. Bill and Reneé were prepared for both of these losses. The generator was still running after the Tesla powerwalls were depleted, we just had to be mindful about conserving energy. They also have a cistern that was put into use, so we were not without water. It was essential for us to conserve both of these necessities in order to continually be able to use them for the rest of Fiona’s aftermath.
Although there was no physical damage on account of the storm, there were some economic issues as well as the city water and electricity not reaching the inn. The Rainforest Inn had very little damage from Fiona, as well as the east end of the island. Due to the news reporting on the areas of Puerto Rico that had suffered more damages, many guests cancelled their reservations. This is expected after a hurricane, but it is too bad. Secondly, the city water and electricity did not turn back on until around four weeks later. Luckily Bill and Reneé had lived through Maria and were experts on conservation when it came to their water and energy. By conserving energy use the solar panels were able to handle the load in the daytime and the two Tesla powerwalls for most of the night supplemented by the generator especially after cloudy days. With the solar panels and generator combined, we were able to have enough energy to serve the guests who did stay at the inn during this period of time, as comfortable as they would have been when the grid electricity is working.
Solar panels at the Rainforest Inn that gave us energy when the power lines were down.
After living through a hurricane, I understand that they are scary, but with proper preparation and conservation efforts some of the damages can be either completely avoided or contained. Luckily for me, the Rainforest Inn was more than prepared.
