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| When her apartment’s windows could no longer sustain the downpour of the Category 4 hurricane, torrential rains began to fill Luz Grisselle’s apartment. “There was so much water that it entered [our home] in a cascade, it was a waterfall,” said Grisselle. “I went into a state of panic.” | | Grisselle turned her own sense of panic into action. She joined a group of women in the Torres de Francia condominium and set up a makeshift kitchen to prepare hot meals when food was scarce, providing a community spirit. | | Grisselle watched anxiously as the water flooded her home in the Torres de Francia complex of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in September 2017. Outside, Hurricane Maria wrecked Puerto Rico’s power grid, plunging the entire island into darkness. For 16 hours, there was no sound other than the deafening howl of the 155 mph winds that left streets debris-strewn, neighborhoods flattened, and the island starved of freshwater and medical aid — a crisis in which thousands of people perished. Against this backdrop, Grisselle turned her own sense of panic into action. She joined a group of women in the Torres de Francia complex and set up a makeshift kitchen to make food for as many people as possible. Even with no electricity and little access to basic necessities, the women helped hundreds of families survive by making them hot meals when food was scarce and providing a community spirit to keep hope alive. “This is a story of women using food as a platform, to redirect desperation to hope, to redirect inertia with passion,” said Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto. The award-winning advocate was the mayor of San Juan when the hurricane struck, and she met the women from Torres de Francia when they approached her for help. “These women have stayed tattooed in my soul from the moment I met them,” said Cruz Soto. Today, Cruz Soto is the host of Sheroics, OZY’s latest podcast and a platform for the stories of ordinary women doing extraordinary things, which launched recently on Dec. 7. The first season features stories told by Latin American guests. In the debut episode, Cruz Soto shares the real-life story that is close to her heart — about the extraordinary leadership that emerged from the rubble of Hurricane Maria, against all odds. |
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| In September 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by two hurricanes in quick succession. Hurricane Irma came first, on Sept. 7. With winds up to 180 mph, the Category 5 hurricane whipped across the Caribbean and the east coast of the U.S., causing flash floods, widespread power outages and colossal damage to infrastructure. Residents of Puerto Rico were still picking up the pieces of their debilitated island when, less than two weeks later, Hurricane Maria struck. The damage was catastrophic. The storm engulfed the island, making it disappear off the radar and leaving residents at the mercy of the hurricane’s relentless onslaught. With no elevators working and homes quickly filling with water, housing complexes like Torres de Francia became “human cages,” Cruz Soto said. | | You don’t have to be in the 6 o’clock news to be a leader. - C. Yulín Cruz Soto | | “The desolation, the stillness, it was eerie,” Cruz Soto recalled. A series of administrative failures compounded the direct effects of the hurricane. The island, a territory of the U.S. since 1898, waited for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, yet the response was slow. Vice President and then-Senator Kamala Harris claimed at the time that, “The government failed Puerto Rico at every level.” But that didn’t deter the Torres de Francia women. They took matters into their own hands, determined to do what they could with the few resources they had. “You don’t have to be in the 6 o’clock news to be a leader,” said Cruz Soto. “These women exercised the most powerful leadership.” |
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Would you like to hear the stories of brave women who have turned hardship into crusades of love? Join the former Mayor of San Juan, C. Yulin Cruz, as she brings you these compelling stories in OZY Studio's new podcast Sheroics!
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| The women of Torres de Francia scavenged the hurricane rubble for any resources they might be able to use. They took wood from the debris clogging the streets, then dried it and built fires for cooking. Fugal Ocasio, one of the women from Torres de Francia, described their initial efforts this way: “We’re going to start from scratch, but we will start.” | | The Torres de Francia kitchen became a model that was replicated in 26 other locations across San Juan. | | They went door to door, gathering any provisions that had weathered the storm. They bundled items together with relief donations that Cruz Soto provided to them from the flow of items arriving at the makeshift donation center in Roberto Clemente Stadium. Piece by piece, they were soon preparing lunch and dinner for hundreds of survivors, ultimately serving up food for over 400 families in the hurricane’s aftermath. Pots and pans bubbled over open flame as they cooked beans, rice, meats and sauces to provide nourishment for the people whose lives had been upended. This success story did not end at Torres de Francia, whose makeshift kitchen became a model that was replicated in 26 other locations across San Juan. The leadership by these women inspired a project that provided sustenance and hope to tens of thousands of people — yet they deny the heroism of their actions. “They just think it had to be done, and they just did it,” said Cruz Soto. “That humility is what makes them a real example for others.” This week’s episode of the Sheroics podcast illuminates how a group of seemingly ordinary women emerged from their flooded apartments to become the unsung sheroes of San Juan. “It’s amazing how a single act of love has ripples so powerful,” said Cruz Soto. “Saying that they’re trailblazers, it’s an understatement.” |
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