Cat Sanders, owner of Over the Moon Escapes, lost contact with a client at Riu Negril while trying to help them evacuate the island.

Sanders, who is touring South Africa’s Garden Route, told TTG she had this morning stopped at a petrol station to try and contact her client.

“They were due to fly home on Sunday, before the storm was due,” she said. “On Sunday morning I called Tui, who were adamant they were going to be flying home that day".

She said her clients had been told incorrect information, and were under the impression Tui would be "bringing them home when the airport was already closed and the outbound flight from Manchester was cancelled.”

Despite this, Sanders said her clients had praised the “amazing” way the hotel had responded to the emergency. She has not received any further communication from her clients since Hurricane Melissa hit and admitted she was worried, but added: “I’m sure everything is fine in the hotel, I guess it’s just lack of power and internet."

She said her clients were regular travellers to the Caribbean. “They go every year at this time. I did warn them it was hurricane season, but they said it’s not a problem," she said. 

Tui said it would contact customers in Jamaica as soon as it had updated departure and coach pick-up times. Its aircraft is arriving in the region on Wednesday although all package holidays departing up to 2 November have been pulled.

A Tui spokesperson said: "We want to reassure our customers that their safety and well-being remains our absolute top priority. 

"We understand this is an unsettling time and ask that customers currently in Jamaica continue to follow the advice of local authorities and their resort teams." 

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a category 5 hurricane on Tuesday (28 October), making it the strongest to hit the island in modern history. A category 5 hurricane – the strongest on the scale – is one which meets a speed threshold of 157mph or higher. 

It has left a trail of destruction in the country, and is now travelling over eastern Cuba after making landfall near the city of Chivirico in south-east Cuba earlier today.

Since hitting Cuba, Melissa has been weakening slightly and has been downgraded to a category 3 hurricane.

The government of Jamaica has declared the country a disaster area, with more than 500,000 homes without electricity and severe damage to housing and other buildings.

The most severe areas hit were St James, where Montego Bay is situated, Trelawny, which houses the Cockpit Country hill region, St Ann, where Ocho Rios is situated and Hanover on the western tip just above Negril, which saw hurricane-force winds, while the remainder of the island continued to experience tropical storm conditions.

Kingston airport, in the east, will likely reopen long before Montego Bay, which is on the north-west coast and in the direct line of Melissa.

Melissa is expected to approach the Bahamas later on Wednesday and Bermuda on Thursday.

Sarah Heduan, a personal travel consultant at Hedge Travel, who was in Montego Bay last week, told TTG what it was like to be on the last UK outbound flight home before the hurricane hit.