Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico's food supply — here's what the island's farms look like now
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the devastation to Puerto Rico has sunk in. Many of the island's 3.4 million residents are still without access to power, running water, and health services.
The Category 4 storm also left Puerto Rico without most of its farmland, roughly a quarter of the island's land divided into over 13,000 farms.
After Maria barreled through with 155-mph winds, it wiped out approximately 80% of the territory's crop value, Carlos Flores Ortega, Puerto Rico’s agriculture secretary, told The New York Times.
Here's what the island's farms look like post-Maria.
Hurricane Maria was one of the costliest storms to hit Puerto Rico's agriculture industry.
Reuters
The island lost $780 million in agriculture yields, according to the department’s preliminary figures.
The Category 4 winds ripped leaves and bark from trees, and flattened most of the island's farmland.
Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Source: The New York Times
Other crops drowned in flood water, which have decimated entire plantations.
APSee the rest of the story at Business Insider
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