Barranquitas, Puerto Rico: History
Barranquitas's local Taino Cacique was called Orocobix.
The town was founded in 1803 by Antonio Aponte Ramos.
Early in the 20th century, Barranquitas residents, known as Barranquiteños, had a short but legendary territory war with residents of the city of Comerío.
In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Barranquitas was 8,103.
Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017, triggered numerous landslides in Barranquitas with its significant amount of rainfall and its nearly category 5 winds. Many residents did not receive help for weeks after the hurricane made landfall as entry into the municipality was hampered by downed trees and telephone poles, landslides, and highways that had split in two.
In Barranquitas, up to 1000 homes, and its highways were destroyed by landslides. Forty days after the hurricane, none of Barranquitas' 29,000 residents had their electrical power restored. Barranquitas' agriculture industry was decimated with one farmer saying he'd lost his five thousand plantain trees, apio, and other minor crops.
Scenes around Barranquitas after Hurricane María: