San Lorenzo remains without power or running water and Santos wants to get her bedridden grandmother, who has developed a festering skin ulcer on top of her anemia and thyroid problems, out soon. She has gone to the capital, San Juan, four times since the storm struck on Sept. 20, traveling by car on a two-hour detour over a perilous mountain road, looking in vain for someone who can airlift Torres.

Before the storm, a hospital was only a 15-minute drive away in the town of Morovis. Without the bridge, the only way out is wading across a river knee-deep now that floodwaters have receded, or detouring by car on the mountain road. Santos did not think her grandmother would survive either option.