WASHINGTON — Hurricane Fiona left Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other surrounding islands yet again vulnerable after the storm blew through the area. Residents in need of many necessities are being welcomed by José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen (WCK) as they pull their community back together following the storm.
The philanthropic organization is providing updates on its social media about how they are seeing various communities being impacted by the storm. On Tuesday in a video posted on the organization's Twitter, a field kitchen was set up at the Miramar Food Truck park. According to a tweet, WCK plans to prepare thousands of meals.
Fatima Castillo a team member of WCK that is currently in Puerto Rico said that the organization has a team that stays on the island year-round but additional efforts for Hurricane Fiona started about 24 hours after the hurricane hit the area.
"People are very vulnerable. Puerto Rico was left very vulnerable after Hurricane Maria. So they are going to need that continuous support to be able to recover," said Castillo.
Castillo adds that in comparison to Hurricane Maria, the team is seeing more damage caused by rain whereas five years ago she saw more damage from the strong winds.
"There's also a lot of flooding right now," Castillo said. "We are also experiencing a lot of power outages and there's no running water and there's no portable water." The need is known and the Castillo said that the WCK team is providing water to those in need.
On Monday, the team made 5,000 meals and has currently served around 10,000 people, according to a tweet by José Andrés. The Chefs are cooking "typical Puerto Rican comfort food", according to Castillo.
Andrés plans to join his team in Puerto Rico this weekend, according to a video he posted on Twitter. In his post, he also stated that more restaurants will be added, "to meet the need."
Earlier this week, WCK team members arrived in the Dominican Republic to provide relief to those impacted by the storm. The team spent the day bringing sandwiches to families, assessing the area and identifying the need of the community, according to a tweet posted by WCK.
Efforts to provide relief to the islands will continue as long as the need is there, Castillo said. She assured us that WCK will continue to work with other local organizations in the community to help those in need.
Currently. WCK is partnered with restaurants in the community. WCK is preparing the food and restaurants are distributing the food, according to Castillo.
WUSA9 reported Tuesday that the storm remains a category 3 hurricane but is expected to reach category 4 over the next few days.
To read more about the latest updates and trends of Hurricane Fiona, click here.