Connecticut's legal community has been eager to assist fellow Americans in Puerto Rico who have experienced a humanitarian crisis since Hurricane Maria hit the island Sept. 20.

Speaking from the island's capital of San Juan on Sept. 29, attorney Julio López Varona, executive director of the immigrant-support network Make the Road Connecticut, said there are still major problems with infrastructure and communications in Puerto Rico, particularly to communities far from the cities. “There are tons and tons of resources that are getting to the island, but most of them are stuck in ports,” he said. “So now there is a logistical nightmare, which stems from bureaucracy and from old laws.”

López Varona said people are waiting in line for eight hours or more for gasoline, and while San Juan has places where access to water and electricity have been restored, that is not the case inland, where people are suffering in 90-degree heat without the essentials. “There is no communication, so nobody knows what's really happening,” he said.