Tears as Medical Students Stranded by Hurricane Maria Reunite With Families: 'It's Been Overwhelming'
Left without power or internet, the students could not communicate with loved ones back home.
The American medical students from Ross University are finally home after a terrifying week on the island of Dominica, where they were stranded after Hurricane Maria lashed the area.
The students found themselves stranded at Ross University School Of Medicine after Hurricane Maria, the second massive storm to hit the island in a month, struck last Monday night.
As 160 mile-an-hour winds tore through the island, they hunkered down in the student center. When they ventured out the next day, they found apocalyptic scenes of utter devastation including the destruction of an apartment.
The school did a headcount everyday of each student to make sure they were safe and sent security crews to find them if they were not accounted for.
“We stayed together in my apartment with no electricity, no water, anything for four days," student Sydney Read told Inside Edition as she returned to American soil.
Read and the other students had no way of phoning their worried families back home.
“The hardest part was worrying about not being able to communicate to our families,” another student recalled.
After four long days, the students were evacuated and took a 12-hour boat ride to the island of St. Lucia, and then flights to Miami.
Some of the students were seen sobbing with emotion, saying they “just want to go home” following the harrowing ordeal.
Read: As Journalists Report on Hurricane Irma, Are They Putting Themselves in Danger?
The Loy family from Missouri has lived in Dominica for six years and they are now homeless. Everything they could fit in suitcases came with them as they returned to America.
Dominica is located 400 miles southeast of Puerto Rico, the island currently at risk of going months without power after it was pummeled by Maria.
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