A Billingham couple's Jamaica jaunt turned into a nightmare when Storm Melissa hit, battering their hotel with 185mph winds. Darren Reed, 46, and Jackie Scotchbrooke, 52, were on the tropical trip to Montego Bay when news of the freak weather phenomenon broke.

The pair, who travelled out on October 14 for a fortnight's break, were told of the incoming hurricane by hotel staff who ordered them to barricade themselves in their hotel room. Darren and Jackie ended up trapped in their accommodation for 36 hours, leaning their mattress against the glass patio doors and watching in horror as flood water pooled into their room.

Darren, a transport planner who has four children and four step-children, said: "You could hear the wind blowing down the corridor - we have never heard anything like t

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