‘We can’t wait to be back home’ || Knoxville newlyweds stuck in Jamaica as Hurricane Beryl nears

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville newlyweds Casey and Warner Haley traveled to Jamaica to embark on their honeymoon. But it wasn’t until recently that they realized severe weather would become a strong factor in their holiday.

Casey said they landed in Jamaica on Sunday knowing about Hurricane Beryl but were told they would receive the “tailwinds of it.” The couple spent the next morning snorkeling and kayaking when they realized the prediction had changed and the hurricane was heading their way.

“Our goal was to get out of here, and so we tried to contact our travel agency and didn’t get much luck there,” Casey said. “So, we just packed our bags and took a taxi to the airport.”

Casey said they were told at the airport they were not getting off the island because no flights were leaving.

“We took a taxi to a grocery store in order to try to stock up and it was a frenzy there, which is when we realized this is actually serious,” Casey said. “You know, when the locals are actually concerned, that’s when there’s actually something up.”

Casey recalled the moment being so crazy that she and Warner decided to stock up from the resort instead.

“It was just so crazy,” Casey said. “We decided to come back to our resort, and we stocked up on some supplies from the gift shop, and now we are just watching the wind start to pick up and waiting for what comes next.”

The couple said they have all the essentials, such as water, food, clothes and power to ensure their phones are fully charged.

Casey said the resort does have a safety strategy in place, but it was not ideal for the couple so they made their own safe space. The couple asked the resort many questions but received mixed answers.

“We started asking questions, and we got a lot of mixed answers,” Casey said. “It was like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it. Everything’s gonna be fine.’ Someone did mention the conference room and then someone else said, ‘You’ll just stay in your room. You’ll be fine.'”

According to Casey, the couple was staying on the top floor of the resort, which is not an ideal place to be during a hurricane.

“After we did our own research on hurricane safety, you’re not supposed to stay on the very top floor,” she said. “That’s when we felt really confused and went scouting on our own.”

However, hiding out in their building is plan B. On the following day, Warner mentioned that the resort had a more concrete plan for keeping the guests safe. He said the resort has just started to do some last-minute boarding of their windows.

“I was able to get some pictures and videos of a construction crew outside just now boarding up one of the rooms that we’re expected to probably be meeting up in,” Warner recalled. “So right now they’re probably down there still, with the screw, hammers and impact tools, to be able to drive in the boards in front of the windows. It now looks like it’s going to become a more safer place to escort ourselves to. But just in case, we always have a plan B, hiding out in our own building, in the safest location possible.”

When asked if there are still people in the resort, the couple estimates around 200 people. They said the resort had many more people before the hurricane came.

According to the couple, the hurricane is projected to hit Jamaica around 3 p.m. EST.

“We got into hunker-down mode and we started packing essential bags of things,” Warner said. “We’re going to carry a bunch of towels so we can cover our faces, worst case scenario, keep us warm in all sorts of situations. As soon as things get bad, maybe our windows break down, or however it goes down, we’re gonna grab our bags and all the essentials, head straight down to the location, and then just sit it out.”

The couple said they were supposed to fly home on Saturday but will have to wait and see what the outcome is. 

“Depending on how all this goes in the aftermath, we might try to get out sooner or hopefully not,” Casey said. “But it could be possible that the damage is bad enough that we might be stuck here longer than we even plan to be here in the first place. Right now, just kind of anticipating… We’ve done everything we can do when we are just sitting and waiting to see what comes next.”

“We can’t wait to be back home,” Warner said.

As of Monday, Hurricane Beryl intensified to a Category 5 storm.