It’s been four years since Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico. The Category 4 hurricane destroyed homes, power lines and roads, and left many without access to basic necessities like food, medicine, electricity and clean water. The storm forced many puertorriqueños to leave their homelands to start new lives in New England. And while leaving Puerto Rico for the continental U.S. is not a new trend, Maria exacerbated it: an estimated 135,000 people left the island since the storm, and roughly 13,000 of them came to Connecticut — trading the beauty of beaches and mountains in the middle for cold winters and the promise of stability.

Los de María — the people of Maria — stayed in hotels, their children enrolled in schools, and now they live between two places. The island’s recovery is still not complete. And families are not done asking themselves, should we stay? Should we go back? Is this home? Los de María — four years later.

CUTLINE: Los de María: Four Years After the Hurricane premiered on CPTV Thursday, September 16, 2021.