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Waited out storm in hurricane shelter
(OCHO RIOS, JAM.) – Three local girls are on vacation in Jamaica to celebrate Karissa Mundy’s recent graduation from nursing school.
They anticipated a week of relaxation when they booked a trip to a resort in Ocho Rios.
That all changed as Hurricane Beryl approached Jamaica as a Category 4 storm earlier this week.
Karissa’s future sister-in-law, Lexi Keyes, says the resort asked all vacationers to report to the hurricane shelter ahead of the storm Tuesday night.
“Once everyone was downstairs, they blocked off all exterior doors with hurricane barriers and deactivated room keys to make sure we were all in the basement,” she said.
Keyes recalls the electricity going on and off, elevators being shut off, and being given wristbands that indicated individual meal times.
They also had to leave luggage in their room and could only bring items such as passports and medications to the hurricane shelter.
“We each had a backpack from our flight here and we stocked it with snacks from the gift shop, water bottles, and pops that were in our mini fridge in our room from when we arrived,” Keyes added.
They were in the shelter as the 120-mile winds caused widespread damage and flooding, killing two people and leaving hundreds homeless in Jamaica.
“The scariest moment was the unknown. The unknown of what could possibly happen to us and the fact that it was just us three girls here and we had no other family members with us. Also the lack of communication due to phone lines being down,” Lexi said.
Despite being thousands of miles from home, the girls made a point to talk with employees of the resort who live on the island.
“We spoke with many workers and most of them had to walk to work today. Some stayed overnight. They told us how scary it was for them at their homes because a hurricane hasn’t happened here in a longtime,” she said.
This is the first hurricane to impact Jamaica since 2007.
“We have been here since Sunday and are unable to get home due to canceling of flights and trees blocking roads, telephone poles down, airport closed. We have been losing electricity and was all in a shelter area for 24 hours,” Keyes added.
While she is celebrating a friend's graduation from nursing school, Keyes is a nursing student herself. She has spent extra money to book a flight back home on Sunday, so she can be available to start her nursing classes on Monday.
We asked her if she will celebrate her future nursing school graduation in Jamaica.
"Most likely not," she answered.
