‘It felt like a scary movie’: Frederick woman returns home after being stranded in Jamaica during Hurricane Beryl

FREDERICK, Md. ( DC News Now ) — What was supposed to be a quick family trip to Jamaica quickly turned into a frightening situation for a Frederick business owner who got stranded during Hurricane Beryl.

“I was very afraid and I was very well under-prepared for that experience,” Juoaquina Latty explained.

Owner of B Andersons, Latty and her husband were in St. Elizabeth attending a funeral when they got word of a hurricane coming straight for Jamaica.

But it was too late to leave by the time they found out how severe it was going to be.

“We just didn’t really know what was really going on, because it was downplayed by the locals and then when did reach out via social media, it was upscaled,” Latty said.

With all flights out of Jamaica booked already, Latty had no choice but to brave the storm.

“I watched as the ocean became angrier and then the winds started and the rain didn’t start getting heavy until halfway through it,” Latty said.

“It was more of the ocean just being very angry and coming up on shore. It was really scary and the winds were so loud it felt like a scary movie.”

When the storm passed, the amount of damage was extensive.

“Where I was facing towards the side of the ocean, it was not any real damage to the windows, but as far as on the front of the building all the windows were mostly out,” Latty said.

After six days of being stranded, Latty was finally able to make it back to the States.

She says her faith alone is what kept her going through it.

“I’m very religious, so I started to pray and then I just tried to make myself relaxed so I could conquer this situation that I’m in,” Latty said.

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