Samaritan’s Purse sends relief to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona hits

BOONE, N.C. (WBTV) - Hurricane Fiona, a Category 4 storm, is now moving away from the Caribbean and setting its sights on Bermuda.

This is after the deadly storm hit Puerto Rico on Sunday.

“There’s a lot of mudslides, there’s some bridges washed away. You have people who are now starting to clean out their homes,” said Samaritan’s Purse Director of International Disaster Response Unit Dave Holzhauer.

The Boone-based Christian relief organization helps people all over the world.

Right now, several of their staff based in North Carolina are helping people in Puerto Rico.

Related: WATCH: Plane flies through eye of Hurricane Fiona

“What our staff is seeing – people are worried. They don’t know, you know, is this going to be another hurricane season that’s gonna just wreak havoc on the island.”

The damage from Fiona is even more severe given Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria.

Samaritan’s Purse also responded back then in 2017.

“When Hurricane Fiona came what it did is it brought up a lot of damage that was caused by Hurricane Maria that never really got fixed, and so you saw the electrical system failed almost immediately. The water systems collapsed, you had no power to generate the pumps, so people had no clean drinking water.”

Holzhauer says, they’ve sent shelter materials and water filtration systems; much of the island still doesn’t have power and access to clean water.

“I think for a lot of people, they just want to be remembered, and they want to feel cared about, so we do meet physical needs, but we also try to meet those spiritual needs and just love on people.”

WBTV spoke to a Samaritan’s Purse staff member who is in Puerto Rico right now.

We’re told things on the ground are fluid, cell service is spotty, but the first cargo shipment will arrive today.

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