Riveting account of two tourists trapped on the island.

Scroll down on the link for the story. Includes pictures of resort where the couple stayed.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/...ncart_river_home_pop


magine being stranded on a tiny tropical island with a Category 5 hurricane barreling toward you. Now, imagine if there were two of them.

That's the reality a Destrehan couple endured recently when their anticipated retreat morphed into something akin to an extended episode of "Survivor" after Hurricane Irma ransacked St. Maarten and devastated their resort on Sept. 6, leaving no electricity, no running water -- and no way off the island as the airport was shut down.

"It was like being in a tornado for 15 hours," said Jennifer Shine, who along with her husband Leroy rode out Irma huddled in a resort room that was taking on water and being dismantled by whipsaw winds. "It was absolutely terrifying."

Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico faces weeks without electricity
Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico faces weeks without electricity

The Shines were among 146 U.S. tourists vacationing at the Oyster Bay Beach Resort when Irma struck. The resort is on the Dutch-side of the island formally called Sint Maarten.

When the couple left home for the island on Saturday, Sept. 2, there were no travel advisories and St. Maarten wasn't thought to be in Irma's path, Shine said.

By that Monday, things had started to change and Shine was nervous.

"I told my husband we just need to go," Shine said in a recent interview.

They spent hours on Monday calling airlines and checking the internet for flights off the island to no avail, she said.

Hurricane Maria hits Turks and Caicos Islands

On Tuesday, they decided to head to Princess Juliana airport, disregarding the mandatory curfew to stay off the road and basically shelter in place.

"We said we were just going to stand there and beg" for a flight anywhere away from the storm, Shine recalled. "We went to the airport and it was completely closed ... At that point, reality set in. We're stuck, and we're going to have to get through this."

That night, the resort staff instructed guests to hunker down in their rooms or in the resort's restaurant. The Shines opted to take shelter in the bathroom of their ground-floor room.

"The wind was just howling, making these most eerie noises," Shine said.

The force of the wind shattered their room's front window, and the water came in, seemingly from everywhere.

"Water started pouring out the light fixtures, out of the AC vents and so we had to leave the bathroom," she said.

They were standing in the hallway when the bathroom ceiling caved in. The Sheetrock walls became so waterlogged that her husband "poked a hole" to release some of the water so they wouldn't collapse, she said.

Shine, an engineer at a local refinery, said she took comfort in knowing that the resort is made from solid concrete and rebar, but was discomfited by the condition of the walls.

"When I tell you these walls were moving, it was the longest two hours to just stand there while everything is just whipping around you and whistling," Shine said.

The couple left the damaged room and ran for the restaurant during a break in the storm.

"There was debris everywhere," she said. "The main lobby's roof had been ripped off, and thrown against the restaurant."

Inside they found about 40 others huddled in the dining hall who shared dry blankets and food with them as they waited out the rest of the storm.

"After the eye was done, it just got worse," Shine recalled. "The second half of the storm was longer."

At one point, the wind peeled off the hurricane shutter - bolts and all - from an arched window, leaving it exposed.

"So, we started piling furniture up in front of it to protect us," she said. "And then you just hear it crackling and crackling. And then the bottom of it blows out."

When rain water started to pour into the room from the light fixtures and the broken window, the women and children were sent into an interior pantry. The men were told to "brace yourselves," Shine said.

"They had about 75 people in that pantry," said Shine who stayed with her husband in the dining hall.

She took shelter behind a hostess station, where she sat in about a foot of water for the next three hours and held her husband's hand.

"Finally, it died down and Ann Marie (the resort manager) came back in and she was like, 'OK, we made it. We're going to be fine, but it is not good out there."

Irma's wind and rain had toppled buildings and trees, flipped vehicles and downed utility lines that cut off power and communications with the mainland. Cell phone service was sporadic.

"The resort was completely devastated," Shine said. The staff told them "we're in survival mode from this point forth. ... It's going to get really bad, really fast."

Food and water was rationed. They were told there was enough for two days, Shine said.

The stranded guests, which included an Illinois state senator and the parents of a California congressman, were told if they had any political connections to use them to leverage a military rescue because it would be their only way off the island, Shine said.

"The French and Dutch government are concerned with keeping law and restoring order," Shine said they were told. "They are not worried about tourists, and you're not getting off this island."

The resort sits on a peninsula, sandwiched by beaches and a marina, Shine said. The entrance to the area was blocked by piles of debris, she said.

On Thursday, the group established teams with assigned duties, such as the political calls team - who tried to reach U.S. officials and push them for a speedy evacuation -- and a sand bagging team.

Hurricane Irma wreaks apocalyptic damage in the Caribbean
Hurricane Irma wreaks apocalyptic damage in the Caribbean

"At this point we didn't have communications, but we knew that there was another storm on the way," Shine said. "We knew that Jose was coming and we'd heard that it was a (Category) 4. We didn't know how long we had to brace ourselves for another storm, which is why we established the teams."

On Saturday, news came that the U.S. government had worked out the logistics with Dutch officials and was sending planes to help evacuate the island ahead of Jose, Shine said.

The couple once again made their way to Princess Juliana Airport and stood in line for hours waiting for their turn to board a plane, watching as the weather started to deteriorate.

The U.S. sent C-130 military planes that could ferry 88 passengers at a time to Puerto Rico, Shine said. At one point, she wasn't sure if they would make it out before the weather forced the airport to close.

"They start pulling the sick and elderly to the front because they are about to shut it down," she said.

The couple made it on the last plane out, Shine said.

Now, she and others that were stranded at the resort are trying to help its staff who lost their homes and property. A GoFundMe account has been established, Shine said.

"I think everybody is getting back to normal, but we don't want to forget the people that are there," Shine said. "And we definitely want to tell people that a Cat 5 is nothing to mess around with."