JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One Jacksonville couple was forced to ride out Hurricane Melissa while in Jamaica and just recently made it back home after their ordeal.

Action News Jax’s Jessica Salinas spoke to the Jacksonville couple about how their vacation turned into a nightmare. That’s how one Jacksonville couple feels after surviving Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica.

“When I wake up every morning, I’m thinking, oh, I am home,” said DeAndrea Smith, Hurricane Melissa Survivor.

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DeAndrea and Melvin Smith planned a four-day trip to Jamaica’s Montego Bay over a year ago with the hopes of having a good time celebrating Melvin’s birthday and going to a friend’s wedding this October, where Melvin was the best man.

“Calm before the storm. Everything is just beautiful, loving to be here, just gorgeous,” said Melvin Smith, Hurricane Melissa survivor.

But that relaxing vacation soon turned into survival mode as the Smiths were in the path of Hurricane Melissa, a category 5 storm. The Smiths tried to book several flights to leave the Island, but they kept getting canceled.

“The shaking, the sounds of trees snapping,” DeAndrea Smith.

The Smiths say they’ll never forget those sights and sounds – even as they prepared for the worst. They say they took a friend’s disturbing yet necessary advice in case their bodies needed to be identified.

“She told us to get a Sharpie pen for the both of us. Write my name and my date of birth, and do the same for my husband in case we got separated,” said DeAndrea Smith.

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The Smiths survived, but they still have frightening memories of when they say they were stuck in a flooded room in Montego Bay. As their 4-day trip turned into 12 days, they ran out of medications, had minimal food, no running water, and no Wi-Fi.

The one-time escape to paradise became a far different experience when they were given a bucket to fill with water to flush the toilets. That’s when Melvin, a retired Marine veteran, stepped in to help others who he saw couldn’t carry the water.

On day 12, their friend found them a flight out of Kingston, four hours from where they were staying, and that flight flew them out to Miami, then Orlando, allowing them to make it back home to Jacksonville.

They say there is no place like home, but they say they still think about everyone who didn’t make it out from the storm and those who lost their homes.

“Our hearts are with Jamaica,” said Smith.

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