Puerto Rican writer of "Hamilton" Lin Manuel Miranda helps distribute food in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico earlier this month. Carlos Giusti/AP

Puerto Ricans without access to basic resources like power and cell service have come to accept their post-Hurricane Maria lifestyle as the new normal.

Hundreds of people are still dying but are not being properly counted.

The hurricane's aftermath has accelerated the rate of Puerto Ricans leaving the island for the US mainland.



SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—These days in Puerto Rico, life is conducted on a farmer’s hours. Get up at sunrise, operate during daylight, and return home before night falls.

Some merchants are now able to take credit cards, but cash is king. Planning is reduced to the next 24 hours: how to get power, gasoline to fuel the generator, ice, cash, and a phone signal.

At night, the constant hum of generators blends with the clarion calls of the onomatopoeically named coquí frog. Traffic signals don’t work, and electric repair crews are greeted with applause at their destinations.

The warm waves lap up on the shores, but many beaches are not clear of debris or contamination. The salsa bands play in the hotels that have power but no longer on most of the now-darkened street corners of the capital.

Power outages and hollow promises from politicians have become the norm