EDINBURG – Hidalgo County Precinct 4 operations manager Steve Cruz spent all last week coordinating recovery efforts in the Coastal Bend area.

Knowing the destruction Hurricane Harvey left when it hit as a Category 4 hurricane has him terrified. He said his grandparents are now in the path of Category 5 Hurricane Irma.

“Puerto Ricans, they take a lot of pride in their homes, the fact that they built them with their bare hands from the ground up. So they're going to wait it out,” he said.

Cruz tried to get his grandparents on a flight to the Rio Grande Valley, but they refused to leave. His family lives in a lush rainforest surrounded by waterfalls and mountains.

Cruz and his oldest son just visited Puerto Rico last month. He said helped do some repairs on his grandparent's concrete home while he was there.

“So that's nerve wrecking to me knowing that I just came back from there and I had to do upgrades to the home, and knowing that the home is not at 100 percent,” he said.

The Cruz family in Puerto Rico has survived hurricanes before, just never one this big.

Seeing how the state of Texas came together to make sure Harvey victims were OK gives Cruz a little hope.

“I can only hope and pray that it will get that same response if and when that situation arises in these islands that are going to be affected,” he said.

He'll be keeping a close eye on Irma and praying for those in its path.