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SALT LAKE CITY — Some Utahns are stranded in the middle of a disaster area as Hurricane Odile pounds a popular vacation spot.
Family members in Utah are concerned. Arianne Morgan and Maja Stocking said they haven’t spoken to their brother and sister and their spouses — who’ve been vacationing in Cabo San Lucas — since Monday. Communication is down, and no one is giving them any information.
“(My brother) said, ‘We arrived and they immediately took us in because they knew that it was going to be that dangerous,’” Stocking said.
Their brother, Brad Chatterly, wrote them a note about the storm.
"The eye passed directly over Cabo while we were locked in a ballroom on a lower level of the hotel Fiesta Americano Grand with 60 other people,” he wrote.
“It’s ripped apart. The lobby is destroyed. There’s literal metal hanging off the walls,” said Morgan. “All their windows are destroyed. They’re literally staying in a place with standing water and live wire. It’s not a safe place, but they have nowhere to go.”
Morgan and Stocking are worried the stress of the situation will hurt their sister Katie's pregnancy. She's had a few miscarriages. This would be her first child.
“Between her crying, she has been telling me the only things that they’re telling us is that we have three days of food and water and at least five days before the airport will open,” Stocking said.
Their siblings are part of a group from Vivint. The trip is not company-sponsored, but Vivint employees are working with the U.S. consulate to bring the group home.
The sisters have also reached out to state and government officials.
“But as they’ve reached out, they’re not hearing anything back,” said Morgan. “They just keep saying that nobody knows.”
For now, their siblings must wait.
“When we called the emergency number listed on our passports, we were told the best thing we could do was stay where we were,” he wrote.
Our biggest fear of course is that they don't come back. Our biggest fear is that my sister loses her baby.
–Arianne Morgan
The sisters won’t rest until they bring their family home,they said.
“Our biggest fear of course is that they don’t come back,” said Morgan. “Our biggest fear is that my sister loses her baby.”
At this point, the sisters are calling officials to find out why their siblings were allowed to board flights in the first place, given the storm forecast.
Susan Topham says she's heard very little from her daughter, Melissa Mangum, and Mangum's husband Daniel.
"It could be days, if not weeks before they're home," Topham said.
While Susan Topham can be there for her granddaughter Jane, she feels helpless when it comes to her daughter and son-in-law.
"It's a bit emotional for us ... especially not knowing," Topham said. "We don't know what's going on and it's just we want them to be safe."
The Mangums have been sleeping on cots — first in the resort lobby and later in a parking garage.
Little Jane has no idea what's going on — just that she's getting some extra time with her grandparents.
All four grandparents have come together in this trial as they all wait and hope.
"They said they're safe. They're frustrated. They're hot," said Stacie Mangum, Daniel's mother. "They haven't had a shower at all since I think Saturday night before they left."
And they all got a call from the couple Wednesday.
"Everywhere you walk, you're walking in water," Melissa Mangum said. "Ceilings are leaking everywhere."
The parents of the young couple say they have no idea what might happen next.
"I feel they're going to be safe enough," Stacie Mangum said. "They're going get home. They have food and water, but we'd like to get them out of there as fast as possible and home safe to their family and daughter."
The Mexican government has started some military flights out of Cabo San Lucas into other cities where people can then book a flight home.
"We love our children. We just want the best for them and we wanted to bring them home so that we can make them safe," said Steve Long, Melissa Mangum's father.
But whether Melissa and Daniel Mangum will get to stand in lines to board an airplane soon is still uncertain.
And that's tough on everyone.
"We'll be praying for you. We love you," Susan Topham told her daughter over the phone.
