Tabatha Lozano Raimundi was working on bakery orders at her shop Sprinkle Splash in La Marqueta in East Harlem. But all day Thursday, she found her thoughts straying.

"It's very difficult to focus on any one thing, when half of your heart and soul and thought process is with people in Puerto Rico," she said.

Raimundi is just one of thousands of New Yorkers who have family and friends in Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria hit the island, leaving it with no electricity and so no way to connect to the outside world, many here were left wondering how their loved ones are faring. 

Raimundi says she still hasn't heard from family in Naguabo, on the eastern coast of the island and one of the first places to get hit. But there was a bright spot: her mother had gotten a call from a cousin in Rio Piedras, who jerry-rigged a cell phone charger so that it could use a D battery. Her town was devastated, but she wanted to let her family know she was OK. 

Rosaleen Ortiz de Jesus, from Washington Heights, couldn't reach her parents on Thursday. She was frustrated, because she had tried to bring them to New York before the storm hit. 

"They didn't want to leave, because they didn't want to leave the house alone, just in case there were some damages, they didn't want people to come in and steal things," she said. She's formed a Facebook group with her cousins, so they can communicate about what, if anything, they're hearing. 

The worst part, some say, is that even if they're able to reach their family now, it doesn't mean that they are completely safe. 

"Puerto Rico has weathered storms in the past, even really bad ones," said John Rivera, from Manhattan. He was eating at a restaurant in Spanish Harlem. "I'm more concerned about no power, no running water. I'm worried about what's going to happen now, over the next couple of months."

For her part, Raimundi is taking action. She's been reaching out to local organizations to find out how she can help.

"Today is Puerto Rico, yesterday was Texas," she said. "Tomorrow it could be us, and we're going to want that support and we're going to need the support."