When the Power Comes Back On

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria obliterated Puerto Rico's electrical grid. The entire island — 3. 4 million people — went dark. Not for hours. Not for days. For months. Some communities waited nearly a year before a single light flickered back to life. Residents described the darkness as its own kind of grief. Abuela Marta Reyes, an elderly woman in the mountain town of Utuado, told reporters she would sit on her porch each evening and stare toward San Juan, hoping to see the faintest glow on the horizon.…