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Hurricane Maria one year later: A story of perseverance

It's been one year since Puerto Rico took a direct hit from a high-end category four hurricane named Maria.

Winds and rain from Irma also battered the island two weeks before that.

Today much of the island has power back after nearly a year in the dark.

But normalcy is relative for many families.

In the days following the storm, the island experienced a massive exodus as many Puerto Ricans – who are born U.S. citizens -- moved to Florida.

Action News Jax met one of the survivors who now calls Jacksonville home.

Gretsen Alvarez is a paraprofessional at Kings Trail Elementary School.

Thanks to her, a group of students, including her daughter, can understand the lesson.

“I help with ESOL students, I translate from English to Spanish,” said Alvarez.

Her profession now is a far cry from what she did back home in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico.

“What did you do there?” asked journalist Lorena Inclán. “I’m actually a nurse. I’m a RN in Puerto Rico” said Alvarez.

Yabucoa was ground zero for the eye of powerful Hurricane Maria.

Her mountainside neighborhood was left with bare trees, power lines down, homes destroyed. Nearly everything was wiped out.

“It was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever had to endure,” said Alvarez.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Maria is the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

When news of the updated and drastically higher death toll came out last month showing that nearly 3,000 people died because of Maria, Alvarez was not surprised.

“I was a nurse I knew a lot of hospitals that closed down that only the emergency rooms were working,” said Alvarez. “I lived in the mountain side, so I know a lot of people that couldn’t reach help in time.”

For Alvarez, staying was not an option.

“At the time I left there was no power, there was no water, there was no information about when Puerto Rico was going to go back to full function and it’s still not in full function,” said Alvarez.

It’s a decision that hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans found themselves in as their beloved island struggles to recover.

At Kings Trail Elementary school alone, there are six students who moved to Jacksonville from Puerto Rico after the hurricane. Sandalwood High and Southside middle schools have the highest number of Puerto Rican students. In total the district has accommodated 320 students who fled the island following Maria.

“I was worried about my kids about their education and there was no word about it, so I decided I have to do something about it, I can’t just sit still and wait,” said Alvarez.

Alvarez said her transition to Jacksonville has been pretty smooth thanks to relatives who live here but she thinks about those she left behind often.

“My mom just got electricity in June, the end of June she finally got power back,” said Alvarez.

Her island, as she calls it, will always be home but right now Jacksonville has offered her the stability she needed.

“Are you happy?” asked Inclán. “I’m really happy, amazingly happy,” said Alvarez.