[3][4][5] The barrio of Miraflores became inaccessible when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 and caused landslides and destruction.

[6] Five months after the hurricane struck, engineers and officials were grappling with the massive amounts of repairs that were needed to PR-109 in Añasco and multiple other areas of this barrio and of Añasco, as a whole.

[7][8] Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions)[12] in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (sectors in English).

Since 2001 when law 1-2001 was passed,[17] measures have been taken to identify and address the high levels of poverty and the lack of resources and opportunities affecting specific communities in Puerto Rico.

[18] By 2008, there were 742 places on the list of Comunidades especiales de Puerto Rico.