![]() Twenty years after those panels were first installed, rooftop solar power didn’t look frivolous at all - in fact, it looked like the best hope for survival in a future sure to bring more Maria-sized weather shocks. Thanks also to those solar panels, Casa Pueblo’s radio station was able to continue broadcasting, making it the community’s sole source of information when downed power lines and cell towers had knocked out everything else. Most critically, Casa Pueblo became a kind of makeshift field hospital, its airy rooms crowded with elderly people who needed to plug in oxygen machines. It would be weeks before the Federal Emergency Management Agency or any other agency would arrive with significant aid, so people flocked to Casa Pueblo to collect food, water, tarps, and chainsaws - and draw on its priceless power supply to charge up their electronics. Which meant that in a sea of post-storm darkness, Casa Pueblo had the only sustained power for miles around.Īnd like moths to a flame, people from all over the hills of Adjuntas made their way to the warm and welcoming light.Īlready a community hub before the storm, the pink house rapidly transformed into a nerve center for self-organized relief efforts. Somehow, those panels (upgraded over the years) managed to survive Maria’s hurricane-force winds and falling debris. ![]() ![]() Twenty years ago, its founders, a family of scientists and engineers, installed solar panels on the center’s roof, a move that seemed rather hippy-dippy at the time. The pink house was Casa Pueblo, a community and ecology center with deep roots in this part of the island. It glowed like a beacon in the terrifying darkness. Just off the main square, a large, pink colonial-style house had light shining through every window.
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