Houston woman’s Jamaican vacation takes a turn as Category 5 Hurricane Melissa nears landfall
What started as a long-awaited vacation quickly turned into a terrifying experience for one Houston woman now stranded in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, barrels toward the island.
What started as a long-awaited vacation quickly turned into a terrifying experience for one Houston woman now stranded in Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, barrels toward the island.
Houston woman Debra Shields spoke with KPRC 2 over Zoom from her resort in Lucea, Jamaica, where she’s been riding out worsening conditions.
“Once we had already arrived, I heard, ‘oh, it’s a tropical storm coming’” said Shields. “It wasn’t until the flights got canceled Saturday at 5 o’clock that I was like, ‘oh my gosh, things must be getting real.’”
Shields has documenting her experience on TikTok, showing the calm before the storm and the resort’s preparations.
“As you can see, it’s kind of rolling in a little worse now,” she said in one of her TikTok videos that’s racked up thousands of views.
Another video shows the resort crews starting to board up some glass doors and windows.
She told KPRC 2 her flight home to Houston was supposed to leave Monday afternoon, but it was canceled over the weekend.
“I was supposed to be back today actually,” Shields said. “My flight was for today at noon. It got canceled Saturday evening, and I tried to call every single airline. Nobody was flying out.”
- RELATED:Hurricane Melissa bears down on Jamaica and threatens to be the island’s strongest recorded storm
Now, she’s spending her time inside her hotel room, preparing as best she can.
“I removed the patio furniture from the balcony. I asked for a more elevated room because initially I was on the floor level,” she explained. “I’m now on the second floor, just stacking up on water and chips.”
Despite being from Houston, a city that’s seen major storms like Harvey and Beryl, Shields says this feels entirely different.
“I’ve been through hurricanes in Houston, but that’s the city,” she said. “I can’t imagine what I’m about to see at a Category 5 on the coast. Literally, if I walk out to this balcony, you can see the ocean. Jamaica also gets mudslides. I don’t know what to expect, and I think that’s the scariest part about it.”
Meanwhile, local churches in Houston, like Caribbean United Church, said they are currently in “assessment mode” as the hurricane barrels towards Jamaica.
According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm is expected to be the strongest on the planet this year.
