In January, Former Senator Mack Mattingly and his wife Leslie flew to Puerto Rico to provide assistance and see firsthand the recovery efforts taking place there. Leslie shared her much of her experience on social media. Touched by her account and moved by the stories of other individuals with local ties working to get Puerto Rico back to a state of normalcy, Elegant Island Living reached out to Leslie to see if she’d allow us to share her experience. She graciously agreed and what follows is information she provided about how she and Mack became involved, their travels and encounters there, as well as her thoughts and reflections on her time there.
First, let’s share the facts about how the storms struck Puerto Rico. Initally, it was Irma that came “skirting” the north side of the Island, from Fajardo in the NE, across San Juan (where the largest concentration of the island’s 3.4 million people reside), then off to the West. As those of us in the Southeast US were preparing and evacuating from the path of the same storm, Puerto Rico was in recovery mode, similar to what they through in Houston, New Orleans, etc. No small disaster recovery. And just as Irma was hammering us, a new storm, Maria, appeared headed directly for, and through the heart of, Puerto Rico.
Leslie says that their friends told them at that time, the island was actually still operating in ‘hurricane mode’: they had just been through it. They all knew what to do, and they ‘pivoted’ by preparing quickly, improving on their preparations for the ‘last storm’ where they could, and took cover. Maria lasted “forever.” They told her that the “worst of it” went on without a pause for hours and hours, mostly through the night.
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DENNIS M. RIVERA PICHARDO For The Washington Post
MariaPuertoRico
HUMACAO, PUERTO RICO – SEPTEMBER 22: Aerial view of the devastation at Palma Real Shopping Center in Humacao, a municipality on the east side of the Island. Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico leaving behind a path of destruction across the national territory. (Photo by Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The Washington Post)
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One friend, she says, in the small area of Old San Juan, where because of the geography the winds and storm were horrendous, spoke of doors and walls vibrating and banging when the storm was still at its worst “above” them, (rather than encompassing them). He described opening a door at one point to look out and the sheer power of the storm, its colors and sounds, seemed ugly, evil, and almost demonic. He said, “I stood there looking up and thought, ‘People are dying in this.’”
Leslie tells us that it was over the next few days that people truly grasped the situation. “That’s the simple way to put it. It was a massive disaster, but at that early point, though multiple times worse, it was still largely faced like those of us in the US regarded New Orleans, Houston, Florida, the Northeast in Super Storm Sandy—even SE Georgia.” She says, “According to them, about a week after, the next ‘disaster’ came: gasoline ran out. Cars stopped. Generators stopped. Hospitals had no power. Babies in a neonatal critical care area of a hospital outside San Juan, died. For people in their homes, whatever fuel you had left at that point, you protected for an unknown life-threatening emergency to come. All of the radio stations failed, because they were digital. For a time the ONLY island wide communication came via an old antiquated analog AM station.” She continues, “They told us you protect what fuel you have almost desperately. You walk, you ride a bike, you climb up or down multiple stories to get to and from your apartment. You try to find ways to get by.” Over the next weeks and months, generators and fuel for them eventually became sporadically established.
Leslie reports that currently the lights are on in San Juan. While they were there, the newspaper reported over one million customers have power and 495 thousand do not. Those without power, if they are fortunate, rely on generator power. To avoid burning it out, you can run it no more than about 10 hrs per day. That requires 10, 20, even 30 gallons of gasoline. Per day. Think about what 20 gallons of gas costs in the US. And gas has always been more expensive in Puerto Rico. Most people told Mack and Leslie that gasoline for generators can run about $1000 per month. It’s already been more than 4 months. For some it will be 11 or more.
As Leslie described, the disaster in Puerto Rico played out in waves: first the storms, but then, beginning a week or so later, as the gasoline ran out and thus everything dependent on gasoline, propane, etc. from electric plants and water sewer systems that had survived the initial storms, to cars, to radio communication—it all came to a halt. She says, “EVERYONE, whether educated or not, whether conservation minded or not, whether they ever gave a bit of attention to ‘environmental issues’ or not, now understands that dependence on fossil fuel is life-threateningly dangerous. We hear that daily from everyone. People have learned, and everyone, from professionals to retired ‘pensioners’ now know that solar power is the only reliable source. There is a very clear new knowledge across the island and across economic and education demographics that solar power is the life-source. Anyone who can is installing Solar at their home or business and this will continue into the future. It is expensive. But of course, from the moment you turn it on, your monthly electric bill is no more. So they will strive to afford and install solar. At every level.” What a game-changer!
Surprisingly, since Hurricane Maria struck last September, there are several people with St. Simons Island connections who have given or are currently giving days or weeks of their lives, with some still working pretty much (or definitely) full time, in or for Puerto Rico. In addition to Mack and Leslie, Ronnie Brannen, Zachry and David Veal, Joe Fendig, Brian Mooney and David English, and Peter Erb all have stories to tell.
In the days immediately following Maria, Brian Mooney and David English were among those who arrived first as pilots with the Georgia Civil Air Patrol and Air Force Auxiliary. They both described being stunned by the breadth of the devastation. It spread across virtually the entire island in a near perfect rectangle 90 miles wide and 30 miles across, with mountainous terrain throughout the center, and a large percentage of the population in or surrounding the city of San Juan. Below them, as they flew, stretched destroyed homes, flooded streets and communities, trees downed and those still standing denuded of leaves. Brian remembered that first morning, looking down as he took off, and being so shocked at what was below him for a moment that he “forgot to fly the plane.” He describes the incredible darkness of the nights, with no light anywhere. Of driving through pitch black streets and neighborhoods to get from the airport to his hotel room. Of overwhelming silence everywhere.
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Within days, several more from Glynn County arrived. Pilot Joe Fendig arrived with Zachry Veal of Beachview Event Rental and Design and its sister company Military & Disaster Solutions, Inc. to begin the work of scouting for, setting up, and operating large mobile camps for the power company workers arriving from across the southeast to work with PowerSecure. This disaster response component of Southern Company is headed by Ronnie Brannen, another St. Simons Island resident. Contracted through the Army Corps of Engineers to help restore power, PowerSecure was designated to focus on several of the 7 power zones into which the island had been divided for purposes of assigning power teams to the task. Immediately, Joe began flying flights all across the island with Ronnie and Zachry to spot locations where they might set up a staging camp. Military & Disaster Solutions, Inc. has been providing logistics management, base camps, disaster relief support services, and rental equipment to numerous government and private clients since 1999. They have worked with the American Red Cross, US Military, FEMA, US Forestry Service, power companies and others in their nearly two decades of experience.
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Once staging areas were selected, all went to work. While power crews in the hundreds have been moved on and off the island in two month rotations, these three men are still in Puerto Rico and expect to stay at least into mid-March. Also with them is Aaron Strickland, one of many Georgians, helping to lead the teams for PowerSecure.
In the meantime, Mack and Leslie Mattingly, went to work at home in Georgia. They have decades long relationships and work in Puerto Rico through Para la Naturaleza (PLN). With 180 employees and 55 properties on more than 34,000 acres across Puerto Rico, and helping to manage another 425,000 acres, PLN is one of the largest Conservation and Historic Property Organizations of its kind in the world. Within a few days of Maria, PLN pivoted their mission to utilize their access and presence in communities across the island, their considerable organizational abilities and their 501c3 status to become what is now recognized as one of the top relief organizations in Puerto Rico. Leslie and Mack, along with others in the PLN “family” up and down the East Coast, rolled up their sleeves and got down to business. Utilizing all of their skills, contacts, networks, and determination, they worked on everything from simple things like locating battery operated flood lights, hundreds of batteries and a couple of propane grills, and managing to get them to the office in Puerto Rico, to reaching out to shipping companies (Leslie calls TOTE Maritime out of Jacksonville Florida one of the great heroes of this crisis and notes that they became a special partner to PLN and the Mattinglys, as well), to addressing DC-based issues and needs. They reached out to their friends everywhere to tap their areas of influence and expertise for help.
In Jacksonville, at AquaGulf, a shipping company that packs goods into containers and delivers them to TOTE and Crowley for delivery to Puerto Rico (and receives goods from Puerto Rico as well.), Peter Erb, a Florida resident with St. Simons Island connections, has been there since September. Along with the rest of his team at AquaGulf, Peter is faced with the extraordinary task of finding space, any space, in any container, to get everything from oxygen and medical supplies, to food, to relief supplies and massive amounts of donated goods coming from up and down the East Coast onto a ship bound for Puerto Rico.
In late January, all these efforts began to combine, in part through a fundraising dinner conceived and hosted by Halyards Restaurant Group and Del Sur Artisan Eats and provided in partnership with the St. Simons Island Rotary Club. A sell-out crowd came together to enjoy one of the most spectacular and unique events on the island in support of Puerto Rico and Para la Naturaleza, and about a week later, several of our locals met up in Puerto Rico at the site of one of the PowerSecure camps in the SW corner of Puerto Rico.
Spirit of Puerto Rico Dinner Fundraiser
David English said of the experience, “I saw people of all races and backgrounds, men and women all pulling together to make a difference for their fellow Americans. People who didn't even speak the same language, but treated each other with dignity and respect. Puerto Rico changed me. It made me more grateful than ever for our country, our values, and for my fellow Americans who try to make a difference…Before you tell me what is wrong with America, you better tell me what you are doing to make it better.”
All involved agree that it will take many years for Puerto Rico to recover. The challenges are complicated and extensive, but they also all agree the People of Puerto Rico are like no-one anywhere else. Their spirit, their kindness and determined optimism, the desire to help themselves, their neighbors, and those helping them knows no measure. As one man said, “if this situation existed anywhere else in the US, there would be riots.” Here, you have an enormous community of people who smile and say, “It is what it is. We’ll get through this.” They have grateful hearts in the face of great uncertainty and go to work to help, however and wherever they can, in this “new Puerto Rico” as they strive to regain a sense of “normal”in their lives.
Would you like to help? Help their economy by taking a vacation to Puerto Rico and enjoy the climate, the beaches, the hotels, the great food and people. Leslie says, “This is the best time to visit Puerto Rico. It’s also one of the best things anyone could do to help! In San Juan, on the surface things are as they have always been. You can enjoy the hotels, the beach, the restaurants, and especially the WONDERFUL people. Tourism is way way down, so you can enjoy the Old City with half empty streets, vastly less traffic, no (or very little) wait at restaurants. At our favorite hotel, most of the guests are here working, are traveling alone, and are quiet and pleasant. When we’ve been to the terrace pool area, we have been the ONLY people there. The staff is wonderful. The food is wonderful. The weather is FANTASTIC! In short, its a GREAT time to visit Puerto Rico. Seriously!” She adds, “It has been a joy for us to see friends, colleagues, and familiar faces everywhere—all appearing the same as when we last saw them, and they are joyous to see people like us returning. They relish in any return of ‘normal’. They are grateful for the visitor/tourist help to the economy. We know with every cab ride, every uber, every tip every purchase in any business, we really ARE helping someone.”
You can also go to PLN.Org and make a contribution to the work of Para La Naturaleza in support of their efforts. Click “Eng” in the upper left corner for information in English. And the next time you see Zachry, Joe, Ronnie, Bryan, David, Peter, Leslie or Mack, feel free to buy them a drink. They deserve it.
