GREENVILLE, S.C. —

Several Upstate travelers are among those waiting anxiously for assistance after Hurricane Melissa tore through homes, businesses, and streets in Jamaica.

More than 70% of the island remains without power as residents, visitors and officials stagger forward in the aftermath of the Cat-5 storm.

Unable to rely on cell service, those abroad are sending what they can through text: updates to loved ones and photos or videos of the damage.

Upstate residents Deasia Briana Chantelle Hardy, Da Quala Boggs-Hardy, and Zalandria Lasha Williams were there celebrating a birthday. Staying in an Airbnb, they told WYFF News 4, they remember feeling fearful in the heat of the storm.

"When it hit we was in the closet under the stairs with a twin mattress over our head praying and cryi

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