Glennville group hunkers down in Jamaica for Hurricane Beryl

GLENNVILLE, Ga. (WSAV) – While Hurricane Beryl has not threatened the Coastal Empire or Lowcountry, a group of friends and family from Glennville felt the impacts on their vacation in Jamaica.

Beryl’s center never made landfall in Jamaica, but it did track right off its southern coast on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane at 140 mph winds.

Lisa Burkhalter says her travel group of 10 made the best of it and did what they could to help the Beaches Resort workers clean up the damage on Thursday.

“All the people at the resort were helping the workers get all the trash picked up,” she said. “Looking around now, if it weren’t for the huge trees that were uprooted and power lines down, you wouldn’t even know there was a storm. They got it cleaned up so quickly.”

Their thoughts and prayers were with the locals, too. NBC News reports that the storm killed two on the island and left several homes without power.

“I think everybody here was of that mindset. Everybody had the same concerns and worries about the Jamaican people as well,” Burkhalter said. “Because, if you’ve ever been here and you’ve ridden the roads, their roads aren’t great. On the way from the airports to the resorts, you get to see their everyday lifestyle.”

Burkhalter and her group were thankful to have been at a resort, where she says safety felt like a priority, and backup generators kept the lights on.

“We had a meeting, and [the staff] said this is the game plan, here’s what needs to happen and told us what was expected on our part, what they were doing to prepare… and just sit tight, ride it out, don’t worry. So, that’s what we tried to do.”

Overall, she says it was a good vacation – one the group won’t forget.