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THURSDAY 10.05.2017 No. 033 Vol 213
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NATIONAL
TRAPPED IN PUERTO RICO
Iowa State alum discusses experience after hurricanes
COURTESY OF CHELSESA POPPENS Chelsea Poppens, former Iowa State basketball player, was unable to leave Puerto Rico until Sunday, Oct. 1 following hurricanes Irma and Maria. Poppens plans to raise funds in order to help those affected by the hurricanes.
Chelsea Poppens came to Puerto Rico in early September with the focus of playing professional basketball for Gigantes de Carolina in the San Juan area.
Little did she know her world and perspective of life would be flipped 180 degrees in a matter of weeks. First, it was Hurricane Irma. The former Iowa State women’s basketball player and her roommate braced for impact when Irma came closer. She admits they were scared and were ready to move on a moment’s notice. “We were scared at first,” Poppens said. “We loaded all of our bags into our car, trying to go over to our teammates or somewhere. We ended up staying at our place because we had a generator there and our neighbors were going to take care of us.” Once the storm hit, Poppens said the two of them just relaxed and hung out in their place. They lit some candles, played some music, read some books and drank some Coronas. Fortunately, Hurricane Irma only clipped Puerto Rico and made little damage. In Poppens’ eyes, there was some wind and rain along with some downed trees, but nothing significantly horrible from the storm. That was it. A sigh of relief came from Poppens and her roommate. But they weren’t done. Two weeks later, they weren’t clipped, but rather were in the eye of Hurricane Maria, a category five hurricane at that time. “It hit at like 4 a.m. [on Wednesday, Sept. 20] and I was pretty much trying to sleep through it,” Poppens said with a laugh. “It was crazy.” She could hear a whistling through their house because the winds were strong enough to get through the small cracks of the house. Poppens described it as an eerie, horror movie-type whistle.
When Poppens woke up, she saw her roommate huddled up against her door and they just waited out the storm. Trees were falling left and right and their washer and dryer were being tossed around outside like it was a piece of cotton. Unfortunately, their house had some water damage, but not as bad as most of their neighbors and other teammates. After waiting the 20 hours until the storm passed, they could evaluate the situation at hand and figure out the next step. The next steps were to figure out how the two of them were going to live in Puerto Rico until they could get a flight back to the mainland. Luckily, the area they lived in still had running water, so they were able to use that instead of standing in line for that product. It seemed like gas, food and money were the biggest things people were standing in line for because they were essential for living. “People would stand in line for hours to get gas even if there wasn’t gas at the actual station,” Poppens said. “I heard one person stood in line for five hours to get money from an ATM, so he could purchase gas and food. “It’s just been a struggle.” Then, after getting the essentials, the next focus was to get out of Puerto Rico. The runways in Puerto Rico were still functioning, so planes could pick up passengers from the island and bring them back to the mainland. The main problem was actually getting a flight home. “I hope so,” Poppens said on returning home soon. “I originally had a flight on Saturday [Sept. 23], but that got cancelled.” She’s not the only one. Her roommate, and teammate,
PUERTO RICO
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BY BRIAN.MOZEY @iowastatedaily.com
COURTESY OF CHELSEA POPPENS People in Puerto Rico waited in lines to get gas, money and other products after power outages on the island due to the hurricanes.