HURRICANE MARIA: Benzie’s Blazejewski tells of harrowing journey in Puerto Rico hurricane
Postponed because of weather.
You may think this refers to the seemingly never-ending Michigan winter.
Far from it.
Over 1,000 people perished in the aftermath of high-end Category 4 Hurricane Maria. Mark and
FORECAST
Montaneras in the northern city of Morovis was one of the league's best teams, finishing runner-up in 2016. The 2009 Benzie grad was one of only two Americans on the team, but the squad was also bolstered by two members of
Practice starts
No big deal. The storm passes and the team returns to Morovis for practice
Two days later, a 77-74 loss to Aguada dampens the team's spirits. Little do they know what is in store. After the contest, they first hear of Tropical Storm Maria.
Another two days, and the storm over the
Mark and Kathleen call Maria and say they want her to leave.
"She said, 'No, we have practice tomorrow,'" Kathleen said.
The team still conducts a practice
By then, it's too late to get out of the country ahead of the storm. Flights out of the country were incredibly expensive.
Blazejewski drives the
"I think after experiencing the first, the people she was with didn't take the Maria one seriously," Kathleen said. "They thought it would be like Irma."
Staying with the Sosa family -- Gladys and her three sons, Carlos, Isaac and Daniel -- Hurricane Maria is upgraded to Category 4 and projected to reach 5. Most service stations are already sold out of gas.
"That was my first realization of how serious it was," Maria said.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Having played for seven different foreign teams since 2013, it was common for the Blazejewskis to say goodbye the the youngest of their two daughters.
Maria's first trip abroad to play professional basketball was in 2013, when she signed with Karlovy Vary in the
"The first time was the scariest," said Mark, who coached Maria in high school. "English isn't a common language in the
There was a delay after her plane landed in meeting the team representative. Language was a barrier.
The Blazejewskis had to wait to hear she had made it safe. Little did they know the several-hour communication void would be nothing in comparison.
Maria returned to the
SATURATION POINT
The Sosas prepare their home for the storm's fury. They had water stockpiled in their one-level concrete home with wood additions and a wooden roof.
Even prepared, they soon decide it's best to move farther southwest to
"That was probably the hardest thing," Blazejewski said, "was knowing they'd be worried about me."
Hurricane Maria, now a full-fledged Category 5, slams into
"I didn't know what to expect," Maria said. "You don't even know what 150-mile-per-hour winds means."
The next morning showed what it meant.
The storm lasts 12-16 hours, peaking in the afternoon.
The home of Andres and
"That was big for me," Maria said, "seeing telephone poles or big trees just snapped in half or pulled right out of the ground."
With the Acosta's home damaged, the group returns to Lajas to the Sosas.
BAROMETER
The Blazejewskis tried to stay on top of things as much as they could from
Kathleen still has to work as a social worker at
"It was really hard," Kathleen said. "We did not hear from her for five days."
She also found a Facebook page where people could post a picture of loved ones on the island, and people in
Kathleen posted on the "Loved Ones in
"Waiting to hear from my daughter,
The Blazejewski's went to church at St. Francis that day, then stopped at Lucky's -- of all places -- for some groceries. Mark's cell phone rang from a strange number.
"Usually, I don't answer," Mark said. "But I thought this time I should answer. Sure enough, it was her basketball coach the first season she was in
Kathleen's Facebook post also received a positive response later that day, just after Garcia was able to get a call through that night.
Relief.
CLIMATE CONTROL
What transpired in between was something out of a disaster film.
The wait in line as gas stations lasts 7-10 hours. Only one radio station on the entire island is working. Bank lines are almost two hours long to withdraw money.
Maria learned from Irma to stock up on non-perishables, bringing a supply of peanut butter and canned tuna. The police impose a
It rains almost every afternoon in the southwest part of
A charcoal grill prepares meals for the group, with a propped-up umbrella over it to cook in the rain. A simple meal of pork, carrots and rice elicits high-fives.
"You just have more appreciation for what you have," Blazejewski said. "I've stayed with them before and this was the first time we had a sit-down meal together and prayed."
Gladys, a nurse at the hospital in Lajas, takes cell phones to work with her to charge them, just in case signal returns. Instead, they're mostly used as flashlights.
They have to hand wash clothes.
"I have no desire to ever do that again," Maria joked. "I was fortunate to have people to stay with. I don't know what else I would have done."
"How do you feel about what you did to us?" Lopez-Sosa teases Maria over her shared name with the massive storm.
Daniel's backyard bonsai tree garden is smashed. They use a machete to clean up the back yard, as well as the neighbor's.
Fast food restaurants are somehow up and running several days after the storm tears through the country's fabric, even though credit card systems aren't functional until a week afterward.
Maria participates in some pick-up basketball games in the park across the street.
Getting lost in basketball brought a sense of normalcy.
It's not until
Garcia drives Maria out to a rural area of highway that's unusually crowded because people discover it has cell phone signal.
The call lasts 30 seconds before the signal fails. In that 30 seconds, her parents tell Maria the basketball season has been canceled.
It's not until
Remarkably, the house is intact. The same can't be said for the city and its surroundings.
What once was a lush jungle is now skeleton-like trees, stripped of not only their leaves, but their bark from the storm's intensity.
"It's like there was a fire," Blazejewski said. "It was sad. It was like a wasteland."
Traffic lights face the wrong way, and the basketball stadium has a hole in the roof.
"It's hard for me to watch the news now," Blazejewski said. "I kind of think I should have stayed of tried to get a job with
After returning to
Even in the storm's aftermath, Blazejewski said the people of
"They were so giving," she said. "They never expected anything. That's just how people are. I was happy to see that. We could be more giving here, and we're not."
Garcia won't even accept gas money after driving Maria to the airport.
"I was on the phone for an hour and a half with this person from Delta,"
CURRENT
It wasn't long after she returned to the States that Blazejewski was back in the air to continue her basketball voyage, signing with a team in
She helped Reims Basket Féminin to the league's semifinals, and in French pronunciation, her name comes across more like "Maya," sounding less like a hurricane.
Still, her thoughts were still with
Before leaving for
Montaneras team owner
"It was sad our government wasn't helping more," Maria said. "The people are American citizens. ... But even after the storm, people are like, 'We'll rebuild and be better than ever.'"
Foreign exchange
Year Team Country PPG RPG
2017-18 Reims France 9.8 6.7
2017 Montaneras Puerto Rico 13.5 6.5
2016-17 CAB Madeira Portugal 18.5 6.0
2016 Lajas Puerto Rico 20.7 9.4
2016 Etzella Ettelbruck Luxembourg 15.5 6.9
2015-16 Grünberg
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
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