How have you all fared through the storm and the rebuilding process

Ponce is a great place to live. There is a lot of history and it is famous for museums.

No electricity to my house in Vega Baja still, all I want for Christmas is electricity!

Curious where would you be commuting to if you lived in Ponce? When we first moved here my wife worked at the Ponce airport, and I got to participate on her employer 's basketball team and have spent a fair amount  of time there. Very nice city, great atmosphere, great attractions,  and great people!!

It’s on the Caribbean side!

I still have poles snapped in half all down my street

They replaced the poles and power line that runs past my house but didn’t connect my meter masttothe line.  Everyone around me has power but not my house.  Made a special trip to AEE in Arecibo, they issued a work order and said it would be connected next week.  That was four weeks ago, still no power.  😤

Lol,  I fear my generator is going to fly apart, before I get electricity back.  Gasoline is killing me, I’m spending a small fortune every month, today I actually nailed up a little sign at the front of my street where a transformer and pole is snapped in half that says all I want for Christmas, is electricity for my neighborhood, lol

True Gary, but then again there freezing their butts off and I’m drinking Mojitos on my porch in 80 degrees

That's true as well. I'm hoping we can stay and won't be forced to leave. Sixteen years here and still happy.

You never wanted to live in a desrted island? People are leaving.

Hope you stay Gary, we need sit down to a beer one day.

Yup, that's on my bucket list, too.

Ponce is my stomping ground and I am the only member who is residing there. I have been away for a year and a half and will be returning on the 1st of January. I have a home in the historic area and a farm in Tibes about 12 minutes away. Our house has been rented to Fema workers. We had electricity, water and internet within a month of Maria. Ponce does not get as many hurricanes as other parts of the Island but with weird weather anything is possible. There are many reasons why I like Ponce. When I say Ponce I am referring to the historic qualities versus the various gated communities. It is not a beach town and the colonial character of the city is what like. I also like the Historic Taino indian aspects. Large amounts of Tainos lived in the Ponce area and I take that into consideration also. Ponce is a bit back in time and I like that. Folks say it is hot in Ponce but that is only in the summer. If you have something to work with having a summer home in the mountains has been part of the tradition and on those hot months you just head to the mountains except in moments of hurricanes. If you have specific questions I will address them if I can.

Malecon Naguabo here - never lost power/water w/ Irma... but power has been out since Maria. A small community ( BArrio Daguao) has power - also some areas by pueblo - but no power in Malecon.

We lost water and power with Irma but our house was ok. Maria tore off our roof and destroyed our belongings. This is in the mountains of Caguas, barrio Beatriz.

We've been living with family in Humacao since then. We were trying to work with an architect about building a better roof but he has been dragging his feet. Time to move on and let our family have their small home back. Tough situation all around. They got power back last week.

We saw utility workers yesterday on the road leading to our house which I was surprised about. Crossing our fingers.

I hope people rebuild in concrete not wood again or sooner or later storms will take the house

I would love to build a roof with concrete but just the test of the soil to see if the house could handle it would be $3000. We simply can't afford it. We'll do the best we can with the money we have.

If the rest of your house is concrete/cinder blocks the soil shoud hold it.
A local builder (no contractor company)  could charge less than $3000.

We hope to be able to rebuild eventually. We need a structural engineer or someone with sufficient knowledge and experience to evaluate the remaining concrete level to determine whether it is strong enough to support one concrete level above it with a concrete roof. We are currently in a holding pattern with FEMA and the SBA. We also are waiting to hear from the insurance company that covered our contents. Fortunately, our former church family in Florida has helped us with a place to stay since we sold our home in Florida to buy a home in PR. We miss all our friends there and pray for Puerto Rico.