SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio businesswoman hunkered down on Puerto Rico on Wednesday and rode out Category 5 Hurricane Irma. The storm passed just north of the island Wednesday.
Karem Merced flew out of Texas as Hurricane Harvey was approaching, but got caught in the middle of Irma while visiting family.
“All the flights were canceled since the day before yesterday,” she said. Though she wanted to leave, she also didn’t want to leave her family either.
KSAT’s Patty Santos spoke with her just before the storm hit, she was in Carolina just east of the capitol. Merced said the wind was picking up and the power had been off for about an hour.
“We prepared the best we could, with food, water, supplies and generators,” she said. “We’re not turning it on until the hurricane passes, we just stay inside, as long as we're inside we'll be all right.”
Merced lived through Category 3 Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and said it was “very scary.” She is worried of what the aftermath for Irma will look like.
“I’m trying to keep calm and just praying,” she said. “I know it’s going to hit us, but at least if it's not too bad we can reconstruct.”
Merced hopes to be able to return home before next week. Irma has already caused a lot of devastation on the Caribbean islands and has killed several people.