If you know a hurricane victim who isn’t listed here, or have additional information on someone who is let us know.
Sept. 20, 2017
Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico, knocking down power and cell phone service. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supplies run out after two days. Eight days later, a CPI investigation confirms that dozens more died than the then-official death toll of 16, and suggests hundreds more. Public Safety secretary Héctor Pesquera denies the report. Oct. 1Only 5% of Puerto Ricans have power.
Oct. 3
Luis Manuel Vázquez Rodríguez is found dead on the floor of his bathroom. The 60-year-old diabetic had been in fine health, says his daughter, but struggled to find insulin after Maria. “Everything was chaos. There was no access to anything, to medicine,” she recalls. “Going to the pharmacy meant kilometers-long lines.”
Oct. 3
Donald Trump visits the island. “Sixteen people certified,” he said referring to the official death toll at the time. “You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together.”
Oct. 12
US Congress members demand an investigation into hurricane-related deaths. Trump tweets “We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”
Oct. 12
Joaquín Solivan Ocasio, 43, dies at Manatí Medical Center. Power outages had delayed the diagnosis of a sharp pain in his abdomen for more than 20 days, says his wife. The results arrived two weeks after he died. “My husband had blood cancer—a treatable illness that turned into a death sentence because it wasn’t treated with care.”
Oct. 15
Felipe Figueroa Rosa, 84, wakes up out of breath in the middle of the night. He couldn’t use his sleep apnea machine because of power outages. “We didn’t have a generator,” says his daughter. “I called the ambulance three times and nothing. It never arrived.” He died three days before his flight to leave Puerto Rico.
Oct. 20
Puerto Rico’s government suddenly abandons the emergency response headquarters it had shared with FEMA and other federal agencies. After that, federal and local officials work from different buildings. About 80% of Puerto Ricans remain without power. Suspected cases of Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease transmitted by contaminated water, top 70.
Oct. 20
Alejandro González Vázquez, 46, commits suicide instead of boarding his flight back to the US mainland. Unable to reach his family, he had come to Puerto Rico to check on them, said his niece. But during his stay, Vázquez could not obtain his mental health medication. “Everything he saw here after the hurricane passed affected him,” she says.
Oct. 30
US Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort finally docks in San Juan.
Nov. 16
CPI publishes the names of 47 additional hurricane victims. Puerto Rico’s Public Safety secretary dismisses the report.
Nov. 25
Juana Castro Rivera, 52, dies of Leptospirosis. Over the previous two weeks, she’d been to her local clinic several times for pain. She was only diagnosed with the bacterial infection after being taken to a hospital in a neighboring municipality.“It was too late,” says her daughter.
Dec. 20
Puerto Rico’s electric utility has restored just 65% of its pre-storm capacity.
Jan. 3, 2018
Patricia Nicole Figueroa Colón, 18, is hit by a speeding car as she crosses the street. The street lamps were out and so was the traffic light. “The impact was fatal. They didn’t take her to the hospital. She died on the spot,” her half sister says.
Aug. 28
A study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government estimates that 2,975 people died because of María. The official list of identified victims remains at 64 deaths, which were reported in December.
Sept. 4
In our investigation, family members linked each of the deaths to Hurricane Maria and the island’s damaged infrastructure. But Puerto Rico’s government never did—missing out on key information it might have used to prevent further deaths.