Cars drive under a downed power pole in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico September 21, 2022.
REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo/File PhotoSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Javier Rivera-Aquino is a lawyer who supplemented his income by raising bananas on a 17-acre plot of land in the mountains of west-central Puerto Rico until five years ago, when Hurricane Maria plowed into the island and swept away his plantation.
For Rivera-Aquino, this week revived painful memories of 2017 as another powerful storm, Fiona, inflicted a fresh round of destruction on an island still struggling to recover from Maria.
Rivera-Aquino knows too well the challenges now facing his neighbors around Lares, about 62 miles (100 km) southwest of San Juan, the capital city.
While Cidra, about 31 miles (50 km) south of the capital, suffered multiple landslides in the wake of the catastrophic 2017 hurricane, Fiona has brought its own significant problems, he said.