JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sharhonda Stewart flew to Jamaica thinking she’d be on vacation, helping to style hair for her friend’s destination wedding.
She’s now trapped inside her Montego Bay resort, days after she was supposed to have flown home, riding out what she describes as the strongest storm she’s ever seen.
“This is not anything like a Jacksonville hurricane,” Stewart said, “you can’t really see much outside. You really just see gray; the wind and rain are very powerful.”
Stewart shared a video on her social media page showing the heavy winds blowing against the palm trees outside her resort. She said she watched the wind rip the palm fronds from the trees.
Her flight back to Jacksonville was supposed to leave last Sunday, but Hurricane Melissa forced the airport shut down and her flight to be canceled.
“We have no choice but to stay here, to endure it. I would like to go home to see my babies and my family,” Stewart said.
While Stewart is braving the storm, Shawntell Bell is braving her personal storm of worries and anxieties, watching news of the storm from Jacksonville while her family is sheltering in the Jamaican capital of Kingston.
“[My uncle] told me he was looking outside and it was scary as heck because trees were flying everywhere,” Bell said, “he’s never seen anything like that before.”
Bell runs “Bad Girlz Clozet,” a clothing store on the Westside. Much of her family has lived in Jamaica for all of their lives, and she has been texting with her uncle since hearing about the storm.
Bell told us the last text she received from him was sent at around 3:45 PM on Tuesday, reading “we are experiencing the fullest of the hurricane right now.”
“It’s worrying, especially because he didn’t text back yet,” Bell said, “but I like to be optimistic.”
Some local groups are already working on ways to get supplies to the islands that have been hit by Hurricane Melissa and those that may be in its path. Jimbo Stockton is one of them, a volunteer pilot who works with “Adventures in God’s Creation,” a nonprofit in Jacksonville Beach.
“We want to go out and get as many supplies as we can,” Stockton said.
Stockton told Action News Jax he is planning to fly supplies this week out to smaller islands near Jamaica, expected to get hit by Hurricane Melissa. He plans to use his plane alongside other local volunteer pilots and their own planes.
“It’s just a big team effort to go out and help people when they’re really in their time of need,” Stockton said.
Stockton is asking for supplies to be donated before his team flies out for the islands. He said the following items can be dropped off at the nonprofit’s building on 1st Avenue:
- Tarps, inverters, trash bags
- Candles, lighters, flashlights
- Water, bread, eggs, fruit, peanut butter, jelly, honey, nuts
The Jamaican government has started its own website to help provide relief to those impacted by Hurricane Melissa. If you would like to donate, you can learn more here.
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