Christian Mendoza counts money in
the aisle of a supermarket where he
had hoped to buy water but only
found cans of juice in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, Monday Sept. 25, 2007.
Bottled water was gone from stores
throughout Puerto Rico in the few
stores open five days after the
earthquake. (Photo: Ben Fox, AP)
Water
and some
food
scarce
as
Puerto
Rico
emerges
from
storm
By BEN
FOX
apnews.com
SAN
JUAN,
Puerto
Rico -
Supermarkets
are
gradually
re-opening
in
hurricane-ravaged
Puerto
Rico but
the
situation
is far
from
normal
and many
customers
are
going
home
disappointed.
Most
food
stores
and
restaurants
remain
closed.
That is
largely
because
power is
out for
most of
the
island
and few
have
generators
or
enough
diesel
to power
them.
The
shops
that
were
open
Monday
had long
lines
outside
and vast
empty
shelves
where
they
once
held
milk,
meat and
other
perishables.
Drinking
water
was
nowhere
to be
found.
Mercedes
Caro
shook
her head
in
frustration
as she
emerged
from the
SuperMax
in the
Condado
neighborhood
of San
Juan
with a
loaf of
white
bread,
cheese
and
bananas.
“There
is no
water
and
practically
no
food,”
she
said.
“Not
even
spaghetti.”
Maria
Perez
waited
outside
a Pueblo
supermarket
in a
nearby
part of
San
Juan,
hoping
to buy
some
coffee,
sugar
and
maybe a
little
meat to
cook
with a
gas
stove
that has
enough
propane
for
about a
week
more.
“We are
in a
crisis,”
she
said.
“Puerto
Rico is
destroyed.”
The fact
that
some
stores
and
restaurants
have
re-opened
for the
first
time
since
Category
4
Hurricane
Maria
roared
across
the
island
Sept. 20
is
welcome
in a
place
where
nearly
everyone
has no
power
and more
than
half the
people
don’t
have
water.
Puerto
Ricans
are
trying
to make
contact
with
relatives
and
friends
after
Hurricane
Maria
knocked
out
power
and
telephone
services.
Hundreds
of other
residents
and
tourists
packed
San Juan
Airport
on
Sunday,
which is
barely
functioning.
(Sept.
25)
Gov.
Ricardo
Rossello
and
other
Puerto
Rican
officials
said
some
ports
have
been
cleared
by the
Coast
Guard to
resume
accepting
ships,
which
should
allow
businesses
to
restock.
But the
situation
remains
far from
normal.
SuperMax
opened
on a
reduced
schedule
for
several
stores
in the
San Juan
area as
well as
in the
hard-hit
towns of
Caguas
and
Dorado.
Walgreens
has
reopened
about
half of
its 120
locations
in
Puerto
Rico on
a
limited
basis.
Walmart
says it
has a
“handful”
of its
48
stores
and
Sam’s
Clubs
open but
the
process
has been
slowed
by the
power
outages,
port
closures
and the
near
total
collapse
of
communications.
Two
Medinia
supermarkets
opened
in the
coastal
town of
Loiza.
But
Manager
David
Guzman
said he
had to
impose
restrictions
on
cooking
gas and
other
products
that
were
running
low and
might
not be
restocked
soon.
“We are
restricting
so we
can give
something
to
everyone,
to
extend
what we
have
left,”
he said.
Therese
Casper
was
among
several
dozen
people
waiting
for a
Walmart
in the
Santurce
section
of San
Juan to
open its
doors,
but that
didn’t
happen
Monday.
She and
her
husband
were
looking
for
something
to get
rid of
all the
moisture
that had
accumulated
in the
apartment
they
rented
three
weeks
ago when
they
moved to
Puerto
Rico
from
Denver,
Colorado.
They
have
been
getting
by in
their
dark,
sweltering
apartment
on
instant
oatmeal
and
anything
else
they can
cook on
a
propane
stove as
they
wait for
a flight
back
home.
“I tell
my
husband
it’s
like
camping.
It’s
‘Survivor’
Puerto
Rico,”
Casper
said.
“It’s
not what
we
bargained
for.”
Stores
are
still
packed
with
dozens
of
brands
of
shampoo
and
other
consumer
products,
but
those
aisles
were
largely
empty as
people
rushed
to buy
the
basics,
using
cash
sparingly
since
that is
also in
short
supply
and
credit
card
transactions
aren’t
being
processed
at all
places.
Ruth
Calderon,
a
retiree,
filled
her
basket
with
processed
sausages
that she
planned
to cook
up with
rice and
share
with an
older
neighbor
who
can’t
leave
her
apartment.
“I’m
surviving,”
she said
with
resignation.
“I have
what I
need.”
Others
also
described
helping
neighbors
and
there
are no
signs of
widespread
hunger,
at least
not yet.
“There
is a
tradition
here of
people
helping
each
other
especially
during
disasters,”
Doris
Anglero
said as
she
looked
for what
was
available
in an
Old San
Juan
supermarket.
Some
disappointed
shoppers
were
also
sharply
aware
that
there
are
others
on the
island
in a
worse
situation.
Caro
began to
weep as
she
talked
about
her four
grandchildren
in
Rincon,
the
western
town
that has
been
largely
cut off
from aid
shipments
as well
as
contact
with the
outside
world.
“Not
knowing
is so
hard,”
she
said,
turning
to walk
off.
___
Associated
Press
writer
Chris
Gillette
contributed
to this
report.