Brevard family reunites with Puerto Rico relatives after Hurricane Maria
PALM BAY — The rented white limousine arrived around 3 p.m. Wednesday at Julio Sanchez III’s house: black and white leather seats, a mini bar and multiple-color lights on the inside.
Thirteen Sanchez family members packed the vehicle on route to pick up three relatives at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport: his father and mother in law and grandmother “Mita,” as Amelia Sanchez’s grandchildren call her.
It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Maria struck their homes in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. The first time Mita’s children talked to her since the storm was Wednesday morning when she arrived at the San Juan airport.
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“I actually couldn’t speak much because when I heard her voice I completely paralyzed,” son Julio Sanchez Jr. said as he choked up in tears. “I’m so happy that I can see her and hold her. It’s going to be beautiful.”
Mita and her grandson’s in-laws are only expecting him to be at the airport when they land. The limo is a surprise too – he couldn’t find anything else to fit the entire family, he said.
“The helicopter was in the shop,” cousin Pedro Oliva of Kissimmee joked.
At the airport
“She land?” Mita’s daughter Iris Sanchez asked Pedro, her son, as they power walk toward the Terminal 3 baggage claim.
Mother and daughter used to talk on the phone two to three times a day. After Maria hit, the family didn’t hear news about Mita for a week. Iris Sanchez couldn’t eat, sleep or work for days. Mita’s granddaughter Linette Sanchez works as an administrative assistant at FLORIDA TODAY.
Iris and brother Julio Sanchez Jr. form a group hug as Mita rises from an airport-provided wheel chair. He grabs his mother's head with both hands. He kisses her on the forehead. They cry.
Mita is 85 and lives alone. She has been eating Campbell’s soup as Vega Baja remains without power and running water is on and off. Her home didn’t sustain much damage besides the dead avocado and breadfruit trees in the backyard. She’s upset she didn’t have time to get her hair done and will miss a doctor’s appointment because of the trip to Florida. She’s anxious to return home.
“I can’t leave the house alone like that,” she said in Spanish.
The white limo pulls up. Mita poses for photos next to it, waving like a celebrity. Her family says she’s Vega Baja’s Celia Cruz because of her resemblance to the legendary and larger-than-life Cuban singer.
Back in the limo
The newly-arrived family members begin sharing tales of life in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. They sip cold bottled water, a treat after living without ice and electricity.
"Está buena?" one relative asks Mita if the water tastes good.
"Está rica (it's delicious)," she responds.
In Vega Baja, Nelida Lopez, Julio Sanchez III’s mother in law, had to wash clothes using water from her pool. She and husband Manuel de Jesus Vega bathed with buckets whenever there was running water. Their nights were hot without air conditioning. They had to drive to nearby towns to use the telephone and buy gas. Maria blew away light poles and power lines on her street – its winds howled like screams, Lopez said.
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Lopez, a breast cancer survivor, is diabetic and relies on insulin that needs to be refrigerated. Her neighbor allowed her to hook her refrigerator to his generator.
“We’ve had storms before but not like this one,” Lopez said in Spanish.
What’s next
Lopez said it will be a long time before the island is ready for them to go back. She and her husband will stay with daughter Brenda Sanchez, her husband Julio Sanchez III and their children in Palm Bay. Lopez will adapt to life in the U.S. more easily than her husband, who wants to return to their house, Brenda Sanchez said.
“My father is the one who can’t sit still, so he’ll go outside,” Brenda Sanchez said.
Mita will bounce between her son’s home in Palm Bay and her daughter Iris Sanchez’ in Kissimmee. Mita hopes her move to the U.S. will be temporary. She’s attached to her home, a reminder of her late husband, her children said.
“We’re going to try to keep her here, but she doesn’t know,” Julio Sanchez Jr. said.