Greenville woman trapped in Jamaica as Category 5 Hurricane Melissa hits

RUNAWAY BAY, Jamaica (WITN) - A Greenville woman, looking to celebrate her birthday in Jamaica, is now stuck on the island as Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday, bringing catastrophic winds, flash flooding, and storm surge. This is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the island’s recorded history.

Yolanda Williams, a Greenville native, is stuck on the island with nowhere to go.

“I am concerned, and I am worried,” Williams said.

She arrived in Runaway Bay on Friday to celebrate her upcoming birthday and says once she got to the Bahai Principe Jamaica Resort, she noticed other travelers were concerned about Melissa.

“We kind of saw a little, people panicking, just a little bit about flights,” Williams said.

The next day, she learned her flight home was canceled, the airport was shut down, and she was stranded in Jamaica.

“No services, no airports, no charters out to another island,” Williams said.

At 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Williams says hundreds of people were woken up and moved out of their rooms and into the resort’s theater for safety reasons.

“It’s just crowded conditions; we were all packed in there.”

The storm has already claimed lives across the Caribbean. Trying to stay calm while stuck in these deadly conditions, Williams is worried that the impacts the island’s facing, including at its airports, could stop her from getting home to her children.

“We’re an hour away from the airport, so yes, we survive the storm, but then how long am I going to be stuck here?” Williams said.

Williams says her belief in God, keeping in contact with family and friends, and the locals there, reassuring her that they will get through this storm, is what’s helping her through this difficult time.

The Category 5 storm is the most powerful of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.