From WGME

BANGOR (WGME) — There are Mainers trapped in the Caribbean.

One group rode out the storm on the island of Saint Maartin, which is now in ruins.

Susanne Levassaur says her daughter Brittany and 18 friends traveled from Maine to St. Maarten for a wedding.

“Not thinking it would be so bad and that they’d all just get through it and go back to their vacation.”

After Irma strengthened to a category 5, Levassaur says panic started to set in.

“It was too late, even when I was trying to change her flight it was too late,” Levassaur said.

Levassaur says her daughter and friends were put into a temporary shelter inside their beachfront hotel as Irma hit head on.

“Her last text was that there was water and sand coming in, and that the ceiling was moving and that she was just really scared,” Levassaur said.

Luckily the group made it through, but their surroundings didn’t.

“A lot of it is gone, like where the wedding took place,” Levassaur said. “That venue is gone. No matter where you look it’s complete devastation.”

Officials say the island has no electricity and nearly no outside communication, and could take weeks to get people off.

“We’re thinking we’ll get a helicopter to get them off or a boat,” Levassaur said. “I mean there’s got to be some way, but we find we’re powerless.”

Levassaur says the few messages that have come through show her daughter may be moved to another island close by, to avoid another hurricane that may hit the island

“She’ll get to come home and go back to her life,” Levassaur said. “But those locals, they have nothing to go back to.”

IMAGE: Susanne Levassaur says her daughter Brittany and 18 friends traveled from Maine to St. Maarten for the wedding. (Susanne Levassaur)

For more on this story go to: http://wgme.com/news/local/bangor-mother-says-daughter-trapped-in-the-caribbean