- Title: Survivor recalls dramatic rescue from Hurricane Maria mudslide
- Date: 18th September 2018
- Summary: JAYUYA, PUERTO RICO (FILE - SEPTEMBER 8, 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF INSIDE OF RIVERA'S HOUSE THAT WAS DESTROYED BY HURRICANE MARIA JAYUYA, PUERTO RICO (FILE - SEPTEMBER 7, 2018) (REUTERS) EVELYN RIVERA, WOMAN WHO LOST HUSBAND, HOUSE AND LEG IN HURRICANE MARIA, WALKING
- Embargoed: 2nd October 2018 17:21
- Keywords: Hurricane Maria survivor anniversary lost leg trapped in mudslide
- Location: JUANA MATOS NEIGHBORHOOD, CATANO; GUAYAMA; JAYUYA; SALINAS; SAN JUAN AND SURROUNDING AREAS, PUERTO RICO
- City: JUANA MATOS NEIGHBORHOOD, CATANO; GUAYAMA; JAYUYA; SALINAS; SAN JUAN AND SURROUNDING AREAS, PUERTO RICO
- Country: Puerto Rico
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
- Reuters ID: LVA0038Y5NUPZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As Hurricane Maria swept through the central Puerto Rican town of Jayuya (hah-YOO-yah) at 9:15am (1315gmt) on September 20, 2017, 54-year-old Evelyn Rivera was in her back room and her husband Tony and their son were in the front of the house as the family rode out the second major storm to hit the island that month.
She said she heard a voice telling her to run but before she could respond, she was swept away by a landslide that destroyed her house and threw her about 150 feet (46 meters) down the cliff in front of her house.
For five hours, the 54-year-old went in and out of consciousness, trapped up to her waist in mud, unable to move. As she wondered why her husband wasn't coming to rescue her, she saw the wind whip branches, debris and rocks past her and worried that the storm would sweep her away. When a tree limb floated by, she grabbed it and placed it under her arms, propping up her body against the raging water.
Around two o'clock in the afternoon (18gmt), neighbor Eliezer Gonzalez looked out his window and was shocked at what he saw.
"I kept looking and then I saw a hand inside the ground, moving and it was Miss Evelyn, looking for help," he recalled. He and his father ran down the hill and saw Rivera trapped in mud and her husband's lifeless body just a few feet away.
When the men pulled her out, they realized that she had substantial injuries, including an open fracture of her left leg. They took her to a neighbor's house and sought help, but the roads were blocked.
For 30 hours, the neighbors gave her water and paracetamol, until finally, they were able to get her to the nearest medical center which was flooded and without power. As doctor's attended to patients in the waiting room and ambulances, Rivera's precarious state drew great concern. She recalled hearing the mayor frantically calling for air transport to fly her to a larger hospital.
Although weak and unable to respond, Evelyn says she could hear it all.
"I knew the hospital was flooded and there were problems with the lights (electricity). I heard the mayor desperately calling the medical center so the air ambulance would come and get me. I could hear everything, everything, everything. I heard the police, the crying, the screaming, I could hear everything," she said.
As Rivera weakened, paramedic Jose Velazquez grew increasingly concerned and asked permission to attempt to transport her by ambulance. With another paramedic and a doctor riding alongside Rivera, the group set off for Ponce, but had to turn back. Undaunted, they found a heavy machinery driver who said he would assist them and the mayor ordered a brigade to escort them partway.
Again, they set off, radioing a team of doctors at the medical center every 15 minutes to update her condition.
Velazquez said the condition of the roads was horrendous.
"We found lots of debris, roofs of houses, unpassable roads, a man stopped us on Highway 503 and said, 'You can't go up Highway 143. The highway just collapsed and there's no way through. The only way to Ponce is on Highway 505.' We continued on Highway 505. At one point, we had to get out and lift up the entire roof of a house and push it aside, so the ambulance could get through and we headed on," he said.
The ambulance was never able to reach Ponce but did get Rivera to San Cristobal Hospital, a larger hospital where doctors made the difficult decision to amputate her leg.
There, she was told that her husband had died in the mudslide and her teenage son had escaped after being trapped under a wall for hours.
Evelyn was kept at the hospital for 37 days, where doctors treated her leg and her many injuries, including fractured ribs and arm, a collapsed lung and head injuries.
She eventually moved in with her daughter Yeilizet Rodriguez who left her job as a speech therapist to care for her mother and help her adjust to living with a prosthesis.
As Rivera looks back on the ordeal, she depends on her deep faith to give her strength. She said she isn't angry at God but is thankful for the years she had with her husband and two legs.
Today, she looks forward to returning to her job as a special education teacher at the Antonio Romero Muniz School, where fellow coworkers started a collection with which they bought the beloved teacher a new house.
Maria, which struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, hit just two weeks after Hurricane Irma, and was the most powerful storm to the Caribbean island in almost a century.
The initial death toll of 64-- widely discounted as being far too low- was revised to an estimated 2,975, based on an independent academic study ordered by the governor of the U.S. territory. The study, that compared predicted mortality under normal circumstances and deaths documented after the storm, found that about 2,975 deaths could be attributed directly or indirectly to Maria from the time it struck in September 2017 to mid-February of 2018. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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