When the winds of Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica this week, a vacation-turn-nightmare for a group of friends from metro Atlanta came into sharp focus. Among them, Kelsey Thornton, one of 15 women staying at the Riu Reggae resort in Montego Bay, managed to finally find her way out—but not without enduring a journey she calls “scary” and unforgettable.
The group had arrived on Oct. 22 in Jamaica seeking a few days of relaxation, only to be blindsided as Melissa rapidly intensified and bore down on their coastal resort. “We knew something was brewing but didn’t know it was coming directly for Jamaica,” Thornton later told friends during a brief check-in. As the storm loomed, flights were cancelled and the airport shutdowns began—leaving the women confined to their hotel rooms as gale-force winds battered the island.
In an overnight message, Thornton revealed that she and several others ultimately made their way to Kingston, where they boarded a flight on Copa Airlines with layovers in Panama City and Orlando before flying back to Atlanta. “The journey to Kingston was not without its troubles,” she said, describing chaotic roads littered with fallen trees and downed power lines. “Getting gas was like nothing I had ever seen.” The drive from Montego Bay to Kingston itself proved harrowing: “We had to dodge trees in the road and downed power lines,” she added.
Emotions finally broke loose once she landed in Panama. “When I landed in Panama I began to cry as the emotional overwhelm from trying to get out finally caught up with me,” Thornton shared in a text. “This was a scary journey that I will never forget.” She touched down safely in Atlanta this morning, relieved yet shaken by the ordeal.
The rest of the women in her travel group are still planning to depart Jamaica on Sunday aboard a Delta Air Lines flight out of Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay—which remains a difficult exit point given ongoing disruption from the storm. Meanwhile, Jamaica’s government has declared the island a disaster area as Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 185 mph, marking the strongest storm to hit the country in recorded history.
Looking back on her stay, Thornton admitted she and her friends had no idea how bad it would get. “We tried endlessly to get flights out. There was an overload of people trying to leave,” she said. What was supposed to be a carefree getaway turned into a crisis situation—one that underscored how quickly nature can upend travel plans, vacation dreams, and sense of safety. For Thornton, the relief of returning home is intense, but the memory of that frantic escape will stay with her forever.