Kimmy Small and more than a dozen family members traveled to Jamaica’s Montego Bay for a special 30th birthday for her niece. But instead of enjoying the beach, the Pennsylvania family is stuck in their hotel rooms as Hurricane Melissa closes in.
“We were officially on lockdown as of yesterday and were not allowed to come out of our rooms,” Small told CNN affiliate WPVI on Monday.
The family’s flight home to Horsham, just north of Philadelphia, was canceled after the airport shut down. “It kind of mimics the Titanic,” Small said. “Everybody was going to the ball, getting ready, not knowing what was about to hit.”
Berlynn Tyler and Sean Tucker, who traveled to Jamaica from Indianapolis for a joint birthday celebration, are in a similar situation.
“We came in with, you know, good spirits. Everything was great. And here we are,” Tucker told CNN affiliate WTHR.
The pair knew something was up with their dream vacation when they got cancellation notices for their flights home.
“It’s starting to get a lot darker, the clouds are becoming a lot stronger, and the wind has picked up tremendously… But of course, we haven’t even hit the surface of it yet,” Tucker said.
For Jamaican natives in the US, the storm brings back memories of Hurricane Gilbert, which devastated the island in 1988 and killed at least 40 people.
Carla James, a Jamaican restaurant owner in West Philadelphia, told WPVI she would trade places with tourists stranded in her country so she could be with her family as the storm approaches.