Two Years After Hurricane Maria, Atlanta Doctor Continues Offering Assistance To Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico when it hit two years ago.

Carlos Giusti / Associated Press

While Hurricane Dorian remains fresh on the minds of many as those in the Bahamas continue the slow and difficult process of rebuilding.

But another name occupies Dr. Carla Haack’s mind, just as it has for the past two years: Maria.

Friday marked two years since the category five hurricane hit the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. To date, it’s the most devastating natural disaster in recorded history to hit the island. The storm killed nearly 3,000 people.

Today, Puerto Rico faces civil unrest and political instability, even as recovery efforts continue.

Few can attest to the island’s condition better than Dr. Carla Haack, an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Emory University’s School of Medicine. In 2006, she graduated med school from the University of Puerto Rico and has made the journey between Atlanta and San Juan more than 20 times since the storm hit.

On the anniversary of Maria’s landfall on Puerto Rico, Haack sat down with WABE’s Jim Burress to talk about what the conditions are like for those in the Caribbean island now.