{"id":277110,"date":"2025-11-07T11:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/277110\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T11:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:08:10","slug":"hull-mum-humbled-by-hurricane-melissa-ordeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/277110\/","title":{"rendered":"Hull mum ‘humbled’ by Hurricane Melissa ordeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Cherie Wiles, from Hull, was on a birthday holiday when the hurricane struck<\/p>\n

A woman who barricaded herself in a hotel bathroom during Hurricane Melissa says she feels “humbled” by the experience.<\/p>\n

Cherie Wiles, from Hull, was on holiday in Jamaica to celebrate her birthday when the storm struck.<\/p>\n

The mother-of-three said it felt “bizarre” to have survived and now be back in Britain in the comfort of her home when so many people had “lost everything”.<\/p>\n

“I wish I could do more for them. They’re desperately in need of some help,” she added.<\/p>\n

\"ReutersReuters<\/p>\n

The roads in Black River, western Jamaica, are heavily damaged and overcrowded<\/p>\n

Miss Wiles, 48, and a friend travelled to Jamaica on 22 October. <\/p>\n

She said: “The bus driver and people in the airport were singing happy birthday to me. We were living our best lives. <\/p>\n

“Then a few days in we got told that a category five hurricane was heading towards us.”<\/p>\n

The storm struck Jamaica on 28 October, when winds of up to 185mph (295 km\/h) led to at least 28 deaths. <\/p>\n

Hotel managers advised guests that their bathrooms would be the safest place to stay.<\/p>\n

Mattresses and furniture became barricades, with cushions and pillows used as beds during an eight-hour ordeal. <\/p>\n

‘You can’t die’<\/p>\n

“We could hear the winds whistling around the building. Rain water was coming under the hotel room door,” Miss Wiles said.<\/p>\n

“I told my friend before it even started, ‘you can’t die while you’re with me’.” <\/p>\n

Part of the hotel roof was damaged, the hallway flooded and trees were uprooted.<\/p>\n

Miss Wiles was unable to contact friends and family for two days.<\/p>\n

“The hardest part was not being able to let them [her children] know that I was OK. I was more worried about my kids being worried about me.”<\/p>\n

\"CherieCherie Wiles<\/p>\n

Cherie Wiles enjoying her holiday before the hurricane hit<\/p>\n

Miss Wiles flew home when a flight was available, but has been encouraging people to help via the appeals being run by established aid organisations such as the Red Cross.<\/p>\n

“People are hungry, people are thirsty, people haven’t got roofs over their heads.”<\/p>\n

She said it did not feel fair that she was home safe while others were suffering.<\/p>\n

“If I would have been of any help to anybody, I would have stayed.” <\/p>\n

Miss Wiles booked the holiday a year before travelling. She was aware it was hurricane season, but was shocked when Melissa became a Category 5 storm.<\/p>\n

“We survived it and came off really lightly but if someone had said before I went, I would have been silly to say I’m still going,” she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Cherie Wiles, from Hull, was on a birthday holiday when the hurricane struck A woman who barricaded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-277110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}