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Crespo thankful family in Puerto Rico OK after Hurricane Irma

Democratic state Rep. Fred Crespo of Hoffman Estates felt intense relief that his parents and siblings who still live in Puerto Rico made it safely through Hurricane Irma.

But he remains concerned about the struggles that lie ahead for them in dealing with a continued power outage and nearly impassable roads.

"The most important thing is their safety," Crespo said Thursday. "We were all expecting the worst, obviously. When you see what happened on some of the other islands, we consider ourselves very lucky."

Unlike during the devastation of Hurricane Hugo back in 1989, the ability to text allowed Crespo regular updates on the family's well-being that helped combat his feelings of helplessness.

"It gave us here some peace of mind," he said.

The most immediate concern, Crespo said, is that 70 percent of the island is without power. The roof-mounted generator at his family's home also stopped working during the hurricane and high temperatures are especially hard on older people on the island. Crespo's father is 83 and his mother is 80.

"They haven't gone out," Crespo said. "You can barely drive around the island."

There's also concern about how long cellphones can hold out without the ability to charge. During the storm, family members restricted themselves to hourly texts to save power.

They reported seeing a lot of poles and tree branches down. Streetlights and stoplights are not working because of the power outages.

Flooding and landslides are considered to be potential problems in some parts of Puerto Rico.

Having seen a video of uprooted trees in the capital of San Juan, Crespo believes the scene near his family's homes looks similar.

Everyone is also keeping a watchful eye on the progress of Hurricane Jose, even though Puerto Rico has typically not been affected by more than one such storm in a given year, Crespo said.

"They've been through this before," he said of his family's recovery. "The toughest part now is not having power."

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