SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Puerto Ricans in San Diego are collecting monetary donations to send to the island to help recover after Hurricane Fiona.
The hurricane made landfall Sunday afternoon in Puerto Rico, leaving the island in darkness. By late Monday night, the hurricane was at a Category 3.
With hundreds of thousands without clean water, President Biden has declared an emergency for the island.
RELATED: Hurricane Fiona continues to leave most of Puerto Rico in the dark
For Puerto Ricans in San Diego like Anthony Flores, who is also the president of the House of Puerto Rico in Balboa Park, the hurricane is a flashback to five years ago when Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory.
Flores hasn't heard from his family since Fiona hit and seeing the images coming out makes him feel hopeless.
While he waits, he and members of the House of Puerto Rico held an emergency meeting Monday evening to start collecting money to send for supplies. In 2017, during Maria, they collected and sent $20,000.
As the island deals with floods and damage, a majority of people are without power. Luma Energy, the island’s provider says that only 100,000 out of 1.5 million customers currently have power.
Luma is a private company that has been criticized since its take of Puerto Rico's power service. The island regularly struggles with blackouts, and the company often faces accusations of corruption and mismanagement.
Once the money is collected, the House of Puerto Rico plans on distributing it to a rotary in Puerto Rico who will then send it to the towns most impacted so they can get the supplies most in need.
If you'd like to help, the link to donate will be posted on the House of Puerto Rico's website here.
