Irma Destruction Hits Close To Home For Locals With Caribbean Ties
BOSTON (CBS) -- One married couple from Boston was celebrating their wedding anniversary in Saint Maarten when Hurricane Irma trapped them in their hotel on the island.
Brian Poe is a chef in Boston. He said they were staying on the fourth floor but then got moved even higher because it was flooding.
"It was the most amazing, unbelievable thing to see what was destroyed and what had happened there, but then to look up and see my wife and know that we made it," he said.
St. John resident Jesse Vann spoke to WBZ-TV. He moved to Coral Bay from Cambridge about four years go.
Vann was out of town during the hurricane and is now a part of a Caribbean-wide relief effort.
"It's the worst feeling that you'll ever have I think because you feel helpless," he said.
Many of his friends and family members lost their homes and businesses.
Roxbury Community College Professor Justin Petty said his niece and grandparents all lost their homes in St. Thomas.
"The roof was torn off and everything went with that."
His childhood home is also badly damaged.
Fortunately, Petty's family is safe. He plans to return to the island around Thanksgiving to see them and survey the damage.
"That house had been through so many hurricanes. David, Fredrick, Hugo, Maryland, I mean big hurricanes," said Petty. "I think this hurricane was more than a monster."