'This is not over': Lorain panel discusses Hurricane Maria's impact four years later

Watching a documentary on Hurricane Maria and its impact in Puerto Rico, El Centro de Servicios Sociales Executive Director Victor Leandry was overwhelmed with emotion. "A lot of feelings were running through my veins and my body," Leandry said. "I was nostalgic, mad … embarrassed and … proud of being Puerto Rican." "Landfall," released last year, examines the economic crisis in Puerto Rico long before a Category 5 hurricane hit the island territory in September 2017, as well as the protests after the hurricane that ousted the governor. Parts of the island were without power for months and the damage is estimated around $90 billion. More than 4,600 were killed during the storm. Leandry led a virtual panel discussion Tuesday afternoon spurred by the documentary, on the immediate and lasting impacts of the storm on the island and on the Puerto Ricans who relocated to Northeast Ohio afterward. Cuyahoga and Lorain counties saw increases in their Hispanic populations on the 2020 census compared with 10 years prior, Leandry said. But in the weeks and months after the storm struck, that sharp influx left El Centro and the Spanish American Committee in Cleveland scrambling. Spanish American Committee Chief Executive Officer Ramonita Vargas said her organization helped 2,800 families at the time — families coming in the middle of winter with no coats or boots. She said the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority stepped up to help families, but many weren't sure what they wanted to do — they didn't know how to navigate social services or enroll their children in Cleveland Schools. Leandry said the hurricane forced people to move, and when arriving in Lorain their intake appointments were taking more than three hours, with an hour of that spent crying and processing the trauma they'd endured. On the health care side, Dr. Ines Cuebas Rolon, a pediatrician with the MetroHealth System, said many of the children she saw had trauma-related anxiety and emotional problems impacting their daily lives, including schooling. She also saw children behind on vaccinations. Dr. Brittany Myers, a psychiatrist with MetroHealth, agreed. She said she saw so many families move away from their friends, families and culture because of a lack of resources. She said specialized therapy focused on trauma and grief have been ongoing, and there is a continued need for bilingual providers. The panel discussion ended with two individuals who'd come to Northeast Ohio after the storm. Nancy Vasquez said after she watched the documentary she woke up the next morning with an anxiety attack. When the storm hit, she'd huddled with her two children and husband in the hallway of their home outside their bedrooms, debris and water flooding in through the windows. "I never thought I was going to leave the island until after Hurricane Maria," she said. Power outages and supply disruptions throughout the island had left her without access to her diabetes medication. She lost her sight in one eye due to complications, but after coming to the Cleveland area she's been able to piece her life back together and get resources for herself and her family. Leandry said the families who came after Hurricane Maria are trying to make it in the states, but are struggling as the pandemic continues. Some have returned to Puerto Rico, facing continued complications as the territory tries to rebuild. "This is not over, people. Our families that came from Hurricane Maria are really struggling because of the mental health challenges of living through that hurricane and now going through the pandemic," he said. "Please stay involved in your community. … Let's make this Latino community that's growing in Northeast Ohio thrive." The panel was sponsored by Bienvenidos a Cleveland, Cuyahoga Community College's Hispanic ERG-Unidos Subiendo and MetroHealth's ERG Hispanic Forum. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.