25th Roxbury Film Festival will feature Northeastern film that chronicles devastation and hope after hurricane in Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria was one of the worst natural disasters in history, a Category 5 storm that packed 175 mph winds, left over 3,000 people dead and devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017.

Puerto Rico was hardest hit. The island sustained an estimated $80 billion in damage and 95% of residents lost power. For some, it wasn’t restored for nearly a year.

Northeastern professor Eugene Smotkin, a resident of San Juan, was one of the lucky ones.

After days of powering a cell phone and a small fan with a car battery, he and his wife Linda, who had suffered a stroke days before the hurricane made landfall, were finally able to make it to Boston for the medical treatment she desperately needed.

Years later, Smotkin’s wife has recovered and he has made it his mission, through science and ingenuity, to provide an alternative power source to his home country.

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Image from Powering Puerto Rico/Northeastern Films