Puerto Rico’s rainforest slowly reopens to visitors

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Portions of a popular rainforest in Puerto Rico are slowly reopening to visitors more than six months after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory as a Category 4 storm.

The U.S. Forest Service said Friday that crews are more than halfway done clearing at least three landslides along a main road that winds through El Yunque.

Officials recently opened a temporary visitor centre, and crews finished clearing a trail leading to El Toro, the highest point in the rainforest.

El Yunque attracts more than half a million visitors a year and is the only tropical rainforest under the purview of the U.S. Forest Service.