HOUSTON — A nightmare in paradise -- that's been the experience of some Houstonians trapped in Jamaica following Hurricane Beryl's impact on the Caribbean island.
Now, they're desperate to get out while others in the storm's path try to do the same.
Joe Sam and Tyrone Schealy both work for Houston ISD. They were set to leave the Jamaican resort they were staying at before Beryl hit, but the flight was canceled and they had to hunker down and brace for the storm.
"It's been a great time prior to the storm arriving," Schealy, an HISD counselor, said. "A lot of these big, big palm trees, they have ... they were, like, uprooted out of the ground and they were blown all over the resort."
They said they were grateful to be safe and unharmed after the storm passed, but Beryl was only the beginning of their problems.
"Following that moment, it's been absolutely horrible, so we've had a very rough time. We've been having flight cancellations ... we actually had to pay the resort an additional $800 ... money that we didn't have in order to stay here, you know," Sam, who works in HISD media relations, said.
On top of that, they said the hotel has struggled to supply food for guests. Sam and Schealy said they had to go 24 hours without a meal.
The Houstonians said it's time for their extended vacation to come to an end.
"We're just really trying to get out of here right now. We love Jamaica. It's been really great, but we are ready to go and we're stuck here," Schealy said.
They said their flight for Friday remains on schedule, for now, but the airline warned them of a potential cancellation because of Beryl's path, which could interfere with their arrival.
Meanwhile, in Cancún, video showed people flooding the airport trying to avoid being stranded as Beryl headed toward the Yucatan Peninsula.