'They are suffering a lot': Puerto Ricans flee to suburbs after hurricane
Jessie Bonilla knows she made a sensible decision staying in Elgin instead of going back to Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. But that makes it no less painful to be apart from her family in the most difficult time of their lives, she said.
"We'd never thought we'd live through something like this," she said.
Facing lack of power and running water, and dwindling supplies of gas and food, some Puerto Ricans are deciding their best chance at survival is on the mainland. Many are making a temporary home in Illinois, which had the seventh-largest Puerto Rican population in the country in 2014, according to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies.
Bonilla was on vacation in Europe with her cousin and her husband, who live in Elgin, when the hurricane hit Puerto Rico Sept. 20. They flew back to Chicago two days later, and Bonilla was due to return home Saturday.
"(My husband) said it was better to stay in Elgin, to try and get a job here to try to help him in Puerto Rico because the conditions are really difficult," she said.
Their home in Aguadilla is OK, but hardship is looming, Bonilla explained.
Bonilla works as an administrative assistant, but her office has closed indefinitely. The medical office where her husband works as a technician is operating on reduced hours. Mortgage and credit card bills are starting to accumulate while her husband spends hours in line to get gas, money and water, she said.
Carmita Feliciano Robles and her husband, Elvyn Robles, a retired chemical engineer, also decided they're better off in the suburbs.
They arrived from their hometown of Vega Baja on Saturday to stay with their eldest daughter, Cary resident Ivelisse Robles Lynch, until services are restored, which could be months.
Their home suffered minor damage and their generator remained intact, but they had no water, Feliciano Robles said. Their two other children brought them water every day, she said.
"I'm in anguish for my children and my grandchildren who are there, who still haven't received any help," she said. "They are suffering a lot. The country is suffering."
People also are worried about security after reports of homes being looted, she said.
Bonilla said that's why her husband is staying behind while her mother and daughter are due to join her this week.
Bonilla has started to look for work, possibly as a teaching assistant for Elgin Area School District U-46, where she briefly worked years ago. If she can't find work in Elgin, she said, she'll move in with her brother in New York.
"People go online and they read things (about Puerto Rico's devastation) and they say, 'Oh, who knows if it's true ...'" Bonilla said. "But is not an exaggeration. It's all true."