Two Nashvillians were stuck on an island after surviving Hurricane Irma, but they were rescued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
They tried to evacuate, but they were unable to get on a flight out of St. Thomas before Hurricane Irma hit.
On Saturday, they were waiting for a cruise ship to come and take them off the island. An update on Sunday said the two had been rescued by the FBI and taken to Puerto Rico where they were trying to get a flight back to the United States.
Jay Jones and Rob Tuner said waiting for the hurricane to pass was a living hell.
"Boats on top of boats. Walls pulled down. Cones flattened. It's just Armageddon," Jones said.
Rob Turner is an attorney, and Jay Jones is the Chief Operating Officer at Turner Law Offices in downtown Nashville.
They own a condominium in St. Thomas. They said a family was killed nearby.
"There was one home north of us and an entire family of four were crushed when their roof fell in."
The winds were over 157 miles per hour.
"It was bouncing like a speaker… the bass of a speaker, and all of a sudden, we started getting a rush of water in the condo," Turner said. "And someone screamed that they lost the roof."
Photos: Nashvillians Stuck On Island After Irma
Condos on top of their building were destroyed. The winds cracked windows that were supposed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes.
"Eighty percent of people on this island had their homes damaged or are homeless."
Turner and Jones didn't want the island to be forgotten in the midst of all the damage.
"With all the rain we are going to get from Jose, it could make it worse with mudslides."
Bryan Mason moved to St. Thomas from Mishawaka, Indiana. He gave us photos of the destruction.
"Off in the distance there they are probably evacuating people from the only hospital on the island which was rendered unusable," Mason said.
The stranded men were able to video chat with us because they found a generator and connected to wifi at the Bluebeard's Castle Resort.
They said people should evacuate in Florida if possible.
"This hurricane was tremendous. And for someone to willingly say oo noo, I can do this, I can ride it out, you can't ride it out. And If you think you can ride it out, it's six hours of shaking."
Reports stated air towers in St. Thomas were destroyed, and no commercial flights were going in or out
