TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A second plane full of American evacuees from Jamaica is finally home after landing at the Tampa International Airport Saturday night, Grey Bull Rescue said.
Hundreds of Americans found themselves grounded in Jamaica last week as Hurricane Melissa battered the country, making landfall as a Category 5 storm. The storm, among the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic, then left a path of destruction across much of the northern Caribbean.
Nearly 50 deaths have been reported so far, a number that is expected to continue rising as authorities work through the debris.
Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa-based foundation founded by an Army and Navy veteran, arranged for the stranded Americans to return home through donated funds. The non-profit often deploys teams to war zones or sites of natural disasters to evacuate Americans when government intervention isn’t an option.
The first flight, carrying 170 passengers, arrived in Tampa late Friday night. Due to airport complications in Kingston and delays, the second group of more than 130 passengers did not arrive until Saturday night, well after the morning ETA.
In total, more than 300 Americans were brought back home.
A spokesperson for Grey Bull Rescue noted the struggles faced by the rescued Americans over the last few days.
“It’s been a long and difficult journey for these evacuees — days without electricity, communication, or reliable access to food and water.”
Vaughn Herter, one of the Americans to return home thanks to Grey Bull, said he and a few hundred others were attending a wedding in Montego Bay.
“We ended up being in a structure that the roof ended up being torn off the building and the ceiling collapsed on us while we were in there,” Herter told local reporters at the Tampa airport.
“It was the scariest moment of, I think, all of our lives, so we’re just grateful to be here,” Alyssa Lawrence added.
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