Reconstruction
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria’s center crossed Puerto Rico’s southeastern coast near Yabucoa. Maximum sustained winds were about 155 miles per hour, making Maria a high-end Category 4 hurricane at landfall. The storm then traversed the island, bringing destructive winds, torrential rain, floods and thousands of landslides. Electricity failed across Puerto Rico, communications collapsed, roads became impassable and ports temporarily closed. Each failure disrupted a food system already dependent on maritime imports and electrically powered storage, retailing and water service.
Agriculture suffered both immediate destruction and long biological delays. Puerto Rican and federal assessments estimated that more than 80 percent of crop value or agricultural production was lost. Plantain and banana plants were flattened; vegetable and fruit fields were flooded or stripped; poultry and livestock facilities were damaged. Coffee was especially vulnerable because wind destroyed shade trees and coffee trees that required years, rather than a single season, to replace. The disaster therefore removed fresh food from markets while also undermining farmers’ future income.
Food scarcity was not simply a shortage of crops. Closed or poorly supplied grocery stores, blocked roads, fuel shortages and the loss of refrigeration restricted access to food that had survived or arrived by ship. Households without electricity struggled to preserve perishables or cook normally. Farmers themselves were heavily affected: a later survey of 405 Puerto Rican farm households found that 69 percent reported at least one month in which they lacked enough food or struggled to obtain it; 38 percent reported such difficulty for three months or longer.
Emergency feeding became one of the largest operations in FEMA’s history. Federal agencies, Puerto Rican authorities, the military and voluntary organizations moved millions of meals and liters of water by sea, air and road. Schools and shelters served as feeding sites, while aircraft reached some isolated communities. Nevertheless, damaged communications and impassable roads prevented food from reaching some neighborhoods promptly, and FEMA revised its distribution strategy several weeks after landfall. A study of products observed at one federal distribution center in November found that many were shelf-stable snacks and sweets; fresh vegetables were scarce, and numerous items were low in fiber or high in sodium, saturated fat or added sugar.
The delayed 2018 agricultural census recorded 8,230 farms, 37.5 percent fewer than in 2012, while land in farms fell 16.6 percent. Crop sales were also substantially lower, particularly for plantains, coffee, vegetables and fruit. These comparisons span six years and cannot attribute every decline to Maria alone; Hurricane Irma, economic pressures and earlier trends also mattered. Even so, Maria exposed a lasting lesson: food security requires resilient farms, but also dependable electricity, refrigeration, communications, transport, public institutions and distribution networks capable of reaching rural and vulnerable residents.
Historical context
At this time, Puerto Rico was a highly urbanized United States territory of about 3.3 million people, already confronting a prolonged economic and public-debt crisis under the federal PROMESA oversight framework. Hurricane Irma had passed close to the island only two weeks before Maria, consuming emergency supplies and straining responders. A large majority of Puerto Rico’s food was supplied through off-island trade, while local farms remained important sources of plantains, coffee, vegetables, fruit, dairy products and culturally significant staples. Maria left the entire island without grid electricity and produced the longest blackout in United States history, revealing how closely food access was tied to imported fuel, ports, roads, telecommunications and centralized power.
Evidence
Dating
StrongNational Hurricane Center observations establish landfall near Yabucoa at approximately 1015 UTC on September 20, 2017.
Geographic attribution
StrongStorm-track observations, official damage assessments and Puerto Rico agricultural statistics directly identify the island and its southeastern landfall area.
Written sources
StrongContemporary FEMA records, later GAO investigations, USDA statistics and peer-reviewed household research document agricultural destruction, infrastructure failures, relief distribution and food-access problems.
Food identification
StrongUSDA data specifically document major declines involving plantains, coffee, vegetables, melons, fruit and coconuts, while contemporary assessments also identify severe banana losses.
Preparation method
LimitedA November 2017 observational study directly recorded foods passing through one federal distribution center, but its findings should not be generalized to every meal, relief agency, municipality or phase of the response.
Historical interpretation
ModerateMaria clearly caused severe agricultural and logistical damage, but changes measured between the 2012 and delayed 2018 agricultural censuses also reflect Hurricane Irma, economic conditions and trends predating both storms.
Sources
- 1.Richard J. Pasch, Andrew B. Penny, and Robbie Berg (2023). Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Maria (AL152017), 16–30 September 2017. National Hurricane Center. www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL152017_Maria.pdfScientific literature
- 2.Federal Emergency Management Agency (2018). 2017 Hurricane Season FEMA After-Action Report. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/fema_huHistorical primary source
- 3.U.S. Government Accountability Office (2019). Disaster Response: FEMA and Red Cross Need to Ensure Key Mass Care Organizations Are Included in Coordination and Planning. GAO-19-526. www.gao.gov/assets/710/701974.pdfModern synthesis
- 4.Bart Kenner, Dylan Russell, Constanza Valdes, et al. (2023). Puerto Rico’s Agricultural Economy in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria: A Brief Overview. USDA Economic Research Service, Administrative Publication AP-114. ers.usda.gov/publications/106260Modern synthesis
- 5.U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (2020). 2017 Census of Agriculture Highlights: Puerto Rico Agriculture—Results from the 2018 Census of Agriculture. USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2020/cModern synthesis
- 6.Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz, Nora Álvarez-Berríos, and Meredith T. Niles (2022). Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households’ food security after Hurricane Maria. Environmental Research Letters. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac6004Scientific literature
- 7.Uriyoán Colón-Ramos, Amira A. Roess, Kim Robien, et al. (2019). Foods Distributed During Federal Disaster Relief Response in Puerto Rico After Hurricane María Did Not Fully Meet Federal Nutrition Recommendations. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2019.03.015Scientific literature
