“¿Dónde estarán mis vaquitas? Mis vaquitas...”

José Iván wondered where his cows were as he pulled up to the cattle ranch he purchased to manage in his retirement, suddenly under at least three feet of water rushed in by Hurricane Fiona.

As the flood receded, he tried to track down the livestock that fled to higher ground.

Iván said the 25 to 30 acres of damaged crops he also manages amounts to 100,000 dollars, gone in one day. He explained that in addition to having no power or water on the farm five days later; he is growing more concerned about what he will do to feed 740 heads of cattle, hoping they all survived.

He explained to NY1 as we rode along on his pickup truck as far as the road could take us that feed and needed nutritional supplements were already expensive in Puerto Rico before Fiona’s landfall.

This is exactly the type of problem that farmers all over Puerto Rico are facing. They don’t have access to their crops or three diesel fuel to power their generators and feed their cattle.

President Joe Biden offered his support to the people of Puerto Rico from a Manhattan press conference with federal emergency officials Thursday.

“To the people of Puerto Rico who are still hurting from Hurricane Maria five years later, I know that they should know we are with you and we are not going to walk away. We mean it,” Biden said.

Although grateful for Biden’s swift declaration of Fiona as a major disaster to release federal aid, Iván said he is still waiting for reimbursements from the federal government for the losses he experienced when Hurricane Maria devastated the island five years ago.

He said the federal government says the money is there, but he hasn’t seen it. To make matters worse, Medina is still among tens of thousands with poor cell phone coverage since Fiona made landfall.

It depends on what company you’re with, your service provider

Despite the new challenge that the scarcity of diesel fuel for his generator presents, Iván has run extension cords for an elderly couple and a drug rehabilitation center next door.

He hopes he has enough diesel until electric service is restored in Yabucoa.