After not being able to talk to my family for six days, my mom finally called me from the Island. Hurricane Maria had just passed and she couldn't believe was she was seeing. I didn't know what had happened during that time so she started sending me pictures of what I thought was another country. I grew up in Puerto Rico; in these streets and I couldn't recognize any of them. My mom and sister came to stay with me in the Midwest after the hurricane and talked to me about their experience.
A Harvard study estimated that 4,645 people died in Puerto Rico because of Hurricane Maria. The Twitter hashtag #4645boricuas was a voice to some about this tragedy.