>
Article snippet: TOA BAJA, P.R. — Everywhere they looked there was water. It swept in from the ocean to the north. And it surged toward them from overflowing rivers to the south. Hurricane Maria’s wrath left residents in this coastal town trapped by water. Entire neighborhoods were submerged and some people were swept away in the surge, residents recounted on Friday. When the waters began rushing in two days before, Laura Hernandez evacuated her home and huddled in the second floor of a neighbor’s house with several dozen other residents. Two of them were bedridden. From there, she saw her house flood until she could only see the roof. Other residents stood on their own roofs, stranded among the rushing currents of murky water. “This is something never before seen,” said Ms. Hernandez, 48, a resident of the Barrio Ingenio neighborhood, adding, “The water came out of nowhere.” The neighbors huddled together throughout the storm for over 24 hours until military trucks made their way through on Thursday to evacuate them. Over 2,000 people were rescued from homes in Toa Baja on Thursday, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said. The exact number of deaths was not clear as of Friday evening. Puerto Rican government officials certified two deaths in the town. But, Bernardo Márquez, the mayor, said eight people drowned due to the flooding, according to reports he had received from rescuers. A father, a mother, and two children, the mayor said, were found drowned inside their home in the neighborhood ... Link to the full article to read more