Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico

Classified as a Category 5 hurricane at its peak, Hurricane Maria is regarded as the worst natural disaster on record to affect the islands located in the northeastern Caribbean, most notably Dominica and Puerto Rico. It is also considered to be one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes on record. While Maria is only one of a number of hurricanes since Katrina to have resulted in widespread damage and loss of life along with climigration, it offers some insight into the impacts of climate change on historical patterns of migration around the world, on the one hand, and the linkage between climigration and income disparities and economic vulnerability on the other. In many respects, climigration after Hurricane Maria bears closer resemblance to the climigration experience from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. However, unlike Katrina, the climigration experience subsequent to Hurricane Maria also revealed the importance of cultural differences between many of the climigrants and their host communities.