They huddled out the hurricane in a kitchen pantry but they survived

Part of the bedroom wall is gone. There's no longer a back veranda. Everything got drenched. But four Calgarians trapped in the Turks and Caicos, who got blitzed by Hurricane Irma Thursday night, are OK and so is their rescue cat, Robinson.

ShaunaLowry, who spoke to The Homestretch ahead of the storm strikingTurks and Caicos Thursday, reported on her Facebook page early Friday morning that she was fine, even if the vacation home she rented with her friends wasn't.

"First, we are all okay right now," she posted. "We consider the worst to be over. The house has sustained severe damage.

"The back veranda was blown off, which also pulled down part of the wall in one of the bedrooms. You can also see some roof damage. There is lots of debris and trees blocking our driveway," she said.

"Because of the damage to the house, we sought shelter in the kitchen pantry, which had the most solid walls, was away from windows and the only dry spot in the house. Robinsonwas by our side the whole time."

• Hurricane Irma slams Turks and Caicos

Lowryand her friends have been in Turks and Caicos since Sept.2.

She told theHomestretch that they'd tried to get evacuated off the island ahead of the arrival of the hurricane, but that it hadn't been possible.

• Stuck in the path of Hurricane Irma? Here are key facts and contacts you need

"We tried Monday to see if there were any flights out," she said. "There weren't. Wednesday we saw there were airlines sending evacuation flights, so we started calling to see if we could get on any of them, and we couldn't.

"I think our friends at WestJet have been really helpful," she added, "but the process has not been really great."

Lowrysaid airlines should know how many guests are in affected areas, in theory.

"Let's just make sure we're all on a list to get out of here as soon as they can come get us. Recognizing too that they can't get here."

'They said it's going to be loud and noisy'

Lowry and her vacation mates were fortified somewhat by talking to residents who'd experienced several hurricanes before.

"Pretty much everyone we spoke to said, 'You're going tobe OK, including the people we're renting this house from, who have been through a couple hurricanes in this house," she said."They said, it is going tobe scary, it is going to be loud and noisy but you're going to be OK. The structure will hold."

The four are scheduled to return to Calgary Sept.16 via WestJet. The airport is currently closed, Lowry said, and they would like to come home.

"We have called on several occasionsand we have some connections who are trying to help," she said.

"With the airport closed there isn't much they can do, but there are [other] Canadians here who just want to come home as soon as it's available."

With files from The Homestretch

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