Puerto Ricans on the island and in New York commemorate one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria devastation

Sept. 21--Protests and politics marked the first anniversary Thursday of Hurricane Maria, the devastating superstorm that ravaged Puerto Rico, killed nearly 3,000 people and left tens of thousands without adequate shelter or reliable access to electrical power.

From San Juan to the South Bronx, displaced Puerto Ricans shared individual stories of despair, and a collective resolve to restore the island to the tropical paradise seen on glossy postcards and alluring travel brochures.

"It's devastating to see what happened to our beautiful island," said Bethzaida Toro, 49, who was among a crowd that included Maria evacuees recognizing the storm's anniversary at St. Bartholomew's Church on the Upper East Side.

"I wanted to raise my 3-year-old grandson in the paradise I grew up in. But it is gone," added Toro, who says she lost her 72-year-old uncle, Hector Quiñones, in the storm. "He had Alzheimer's and he died in a nursing home. He was on oxygen, but there was no electricity and the the generators failed."

Twelve months and more than $100 billion in damage later, politicians are still bickering over how many people died. Meanwhile, cases of bottled water had yet to reach needy families while many residents still sat in the dark under temporary roofs that have no chance of withstanding even a low -level tropical storm.

Those lucky enough to get off the island and find refuge in places like Brooklyn or the Bronx don't know where their next resting place will be now that temporary emergency housing funds have expired.

"Our island's infrastructure remains in tatters, as if the storm happened just weeks ago," said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. "Supplies that were meant to help our people remain hidden and unused, as if they were simply forgotten.

"I have been back to the island several times since the storm. With each visit, I am shocked at how slow the rebuilding process has moved. In many ways it is as if there has been no progress since last year."

In Puerto Rico, storm-weary residents gathered in local town squares, many dressed in white -- symbolizing peace -- to attend community and government events commemorating the ominous anniversary.

The Mayor of Loiza, one of the hardest-hit towns in Puerto Rico, used the storm's anniversary -- which is also her birthday -- to bring attention to the work that remains unfinished.

"It's the one-year anniversary, and we still have hundreds of people living under blue tarp roofs," Julia Nazario told the Daily News in Spanish from her office in Loiza Thursday.

"If you walk around, everything looks fine, the place has been cleaned up, but the mark of the hurricane remains," she said.

The latest census indicates that 352 families in the town of just under 30,000 residents are still without permanent roofs over their heads.

In many cases, residents inherited their homes from relatives, and were denied aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because they couldn't produce property titles.

More than 9,000 applicants across the island were denied aid for this reason, FEMA spokeswoman Dasha Castillo Gomez told The News Thursday.

The Abraham Lincoln lower school in Old San Juan commemorated the anniversary of the hurricane with a children's activity called "to serve is to learn." School children were instructed to bring in supplies that will be delivered to a local animal shelter.

They also created time capsules, including mementos from the anniversary, which they will bury at the San Felipe Del Morro castle in San Juan and open in 20 years.

Jose Ortiz, director of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, told reporters that 20% of repairs made to the power grid need to be redone.

He said crews lacked access to decent materials at the time, and were forced in many cases to improvise, using trees as power poles after Maria destroyed up to 75% of transmission lines.

President Trump, who toured Hurricane Florence damage in North and South Carolina, issued a one-sentence statement on the one-year anniversary of Maria. He has disputed the death toll in Puerto Rico, claiming without evidence that Democrats came up with the number to make him look bad.

"We stand with Puerto Rico, and we are helping them to rebuild stronger and better than ever before," the statement said.

Instead of returning to the island where he tossed paper towels to a crowd in October, Trump dispatched a deputy, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

Carson announced in San Juan that $1.5 billion was being released to Puerto Rico as part of the overall $20 billion pledged for rebuilding, the largest in the agency's history.

Back at St. Bartholomew's, there were prayers, psalms and speeches in English and Spanish as slides of the devastated island flashed by on a screen behind the speakers. A bell tolled during a moment of silence for the dead.

Around the altar were 3,000 small, flickering electric candles.

"Each of the candles represent one life lost, " said Peter Gudaitos of New York Interfaith Disaster Services. "We're gathered here to remember those who we lost in the hope that their deaths are not in vain."

For Liz Cruz, 35, a recreational director from Isabella, Puerto Rico, who has been living in a Lower East Side shelter with her three kids, the vigil only brought back bad memories.

"In the days after the hurricane, I thought everybody was going to die," Cruz said. "We didn't have food. We didn't have water. Nobody came. My home was destroyed...I still have flashbacks.

"It's weird talking about the numbers (of dead)," Cruz added, fighting her emotions. "People are still dying in hospitals. People are still struggling all over the island."

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