SAN LAZARO, Puerto Rico — Several generations of the Sortre family rode out Hurricane Maria in a neighbor’s concrete home, listening to ferocious wind flinging wood and other debris against the roof and hoping it wasn’t pieces of their own wooden houses.

Their hopes were crushed when they emerged the morning after the storm passed over the homes in this small mountain town in Puerto Rico.

“When I saw the house, I felt immense sadness because I lost everything I had gained with the sacrifices made over the years,” said Yadira Sortre.

She said her house, her mother’s and those of her siblings were destroyed. “The whole family lost everything,” she said.

Since then, townspeople have struggled to get by. The electricity is out and they are cut off because a bridge linking them to the community of San Lazaro was washed away.

Neighbors are helping each other the best they can. People are eating only once a day and drinking a lot of coffee. Some people are sleeping in cars.

Julia Rivera lost part of her house and the school where she normally has a job has been damaged. She said she is thinking about moving off the island.