Hurricane Maria: Lin-Manuel Miranda Shares Stories of the Storm From Puerto Rico

Six months after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, wreaking havoc on the island, much of the world's aid and attention has moved on. Puerto Rico, however, is still feeling the effects of the devastating storm.

In a bid to bring that attention back, Lin-Manuel Miranda brought stories from Hurricane Maria and the rebuilding process to the front and center of Twitter timelines. The Hamilton creator and Broadway actor asked his followers to tweet their stories to him Tuesday so that he could amplify them.

Gmorning.
6 months ago, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.
🇵🇷, Where were you?
Where are you, today?
Amplifying your stories all day.

Buenos Dias,
Hace 6 meses Maria azotó a Puerto Rico.
🇵🇷, donde tú estabas?
Donde estás hoy?
Hoy, amplificaré tu historia. pic.twitter.com/FqQNXSyi87

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) March 20, 2018

Miranda, who has family living in Puerto Rico, fundraised and participated in relief work following the hurricane. He also urged Congress to send aid to the United States territory.

He continued his work on Tuesday with the aim to spread awareness about the problems the territory has been facing by bringing to light the stories of those who experienced the hurricane six months ago. In the weeks and months following the hurricane, thousands were without water and electricity.

“Maria came and created a revolution in my life. It’s no longer the same home, the same job, the same way of thinking.” https://t.co/0k3HprTWaY

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) March 20, 2018

He shared stories of people who were scared for their lives during the storm and are now succeeding, attending school or working to achieve their dreams. Other stories, however, were less uplifting: People told of friends and family who left or died, along with homes, schools, possessions and more that were lost.

Miranda also translated some of the tweets he got from followers to bring the stories to an even wider audience.

"Here in PR with my family (I'm 13) praying and trying to find fun in the worst moments because that's who we are as boricuas...what was most impactful for me was as soon as it was over, we went outside to clean up the whole street. The fallen roofs, the plants, everything..." https://t.co/iOxylUe0Ji

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) March 20, 2018

He added that his aunt and uncle, who live on the island, only got power back at their home three weeks ago, more than five months after the hurricane hit.

As of Saturday, 98.5 percent of people on the island had potable water and 99.3 percent of people had electricity, according to Status PR. But that took months. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced in January that at the end of the month it would stop providing water and aid to the island, National Public Radio reported.

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About the writer


Nina was a breaking news reporter. She previously worked at Business Insider, The Boston Globe, and Boston.com.

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