Winter Haven couple stranded in San Juan during Hurricane Maria

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) – A Winter Haven couple was on a trip to San Juan with friends when they learned the hurricane was coming.

Salli Cox and her husband tried to get a flight out, but ended up stranded, riding the storm out at their hotel.

“I hear ‘bam,’ and I’m thinking, ‘oh my god the roof is going to cave in,’” Cox said. “We’re praying that we make it through this.”

The worst had yet to come. When the storm passed, they saw total destruction.

“People finally started coming out. People were dazed at what happened. There was glass everywhere, metal, it was dangerous,” Cox said.

The Winter Haven Florida man Florida managed to text her daughter for help.

“She was looking at flights for us. We tried to get on Spirit, they cancelled on us. We couldn’t find any commercial flights leaving the island,” Cox said.

Cox said supplies were running out and without power, Florida many hotels shut down.

“We saw people walking around with luggage and nowhere to go,” Cox said.

The couple was desperate.

“I told my daughter to call Fort Lauderdale and try to get us a charter flight,” Cox said. By the time her daughter found one, their cell service was gone.

Cox had to stand on the highest point of the hotel roof and call from the hotel’s satellite phone.

“The guy was telling me to stand on the highest point, to hold the phone straight and the antenna straight, and you have to turn a certain way.” Cox said she eventually heard her daughter say, “12:30 at the airport.”

After a six hour flight, they landed in Florida.

“When we landed in Fort Lauderdale, I wanted to kiss the ground,” Cox told News Channel 8.

Cox said she was hesitant to share her story, but she can’t shake the images of the hundreds of people waiting at the airport with no end in sight.

“These people don’t even know there is no one is coming for them. They need to know that people are out there and they are coming.”