PUERTO RICO — Hurricane Maria crossed Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017. The category 4 hurricane with winds near 155 mph – almost a Category 5 - crippled the island’s power grid, caused nearly 3,000 deaths and damages was near 90 billion U.S. dollars.
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About 80% of the islands crop value was destroyed. Maria was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years in what was a very active hurricane season.
Maria followed Cat. 4 hurricane Harvey’s hit on Texas a month earlier and Cat. 5 hurricane Irma’s hit on Cuba and Florida less than two weeks earlier.
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In the months after Maria, about 130,000 Puerto Ricans left their home country. Some immigrated to the U.S. including Jonathan Cardona, an employee of CBS47/Fox30 Action News Jax.
Jonathan’s family stayed in their home on the north coast of Puerto Rico as Maria pummeled their town. Jonathan spent a few minutes with Chief Meteorologist Mike Buresh showing pictures of and telling stories about hurricane Maria 5 years ago.
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And you can check out “Talking the Tropics With Mike” for a recap of the hyper active ‘17 hurricane season.
Read: talking the Tropics with Mike: Devastating 2017 hurricane season recap
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