Donated goods leave the I-X Center for Puerto Rico

I-X Center Puerto Rico Relief
Tractor trailer trucks I-X Center

(Cleveland) - Several truckloads of donated goods are on their way to Puerto Rico, after being loaded, packaged, and shipped from the I-X Center. 

Volunteers collected 500,000 pounds of food, water, and other needed items for the hurricane relief effort. Donations came from all corners of Northeast Ohio, including as far away as Lorain, and Youngstown. 

The Greater Cleveland Foodbank provided donations with the help of Feeding America. 

Local activists say nearly 85% of Puerto Rico still remains without power, with service not expected to be restored to the entire island by the Christmas holidays. 

Hurricane Maria, which caused at least 49 deaths on the island, made landfall on the southeastern coast near Yabucoa as a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of about 154 mph. 

The onslaught was sufficient to knock down hundreds of transmission towers and thousands of distribution poles and lines.Some public schools may reopen this week, more than a month after Hurricane Maria swept over Puerto Rico, though dozens of buildings were destroyed and others are still being used as refugee centers.

The U.S. territory's 345,000 public school students have been out for more than a month. Education officials say classes will begin at schools in two regions Tuesday - Mayaguez and San Juan.

(Photos by Ken Robinson/WTAM)

(c) 2017 iHeartMedia, Inc. & the Associated Press

Puerto Rico relief celebration

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