Shelby and her family huddled together in the hotel room, singing “Kumbaya.” Water poured through the cracks in the door, the glass frames, every available opening. The wind pushed and pulled on the windows, rubbing glass against glass like fingers on a chalkboard. Hurricane Odile had hit.

Senior Shelby Willburn and four of her family members flew to Cabo San Lucas for a week of fishing and beach life. For the last 14 years, Eddy Willburn, Shelby’s father, has made the trip to Mexico. This year, he brought his daughter for the first time. The group was scheduled to fly back Sunday, Sept. 14. At 3 p.m., the phone rang.

“We got a call from the hotel saying ‘The government is forcing evacuation on the hotel,’” Shelby said. “’You have to grab a change of clothes and go to another hotel.’”

The group evacuated to a large resort with several buildings. They were given a hotel room with a bedroom, living room, kitchen and two bathrooms.

“The wind started picking up at 6 p.m.,” Shelby said. “It got to around 60 or 70 miles per hour. The hurricane hadn’t even started yet.”

Shelby said they tried to keep spirits up by joking about the fact the hurricane was approaching.

“We were like ‘Oh…We’re going to get hit by a hurricane,’ like it was funny,” Shelby said. “Then it actually hit, and it wasn’t funny.”

According to Shelby, the hurricane reached the resort at 10:30 p.m. The wooden door facing outside started shaking because of the 125 mph wind gusts.

“The wind was shooting leaves and sticks through cracks in the wooden door,” Shelby said. “That’s how much it was shaking. We thought we were going to lose the door.”

Shelby said she was frightened and sought refuge in the bathroom.

“The pressure was really bad,” Shelby said. “I thought it would be smart to lock myself in the bathroom, but it was an even tighter space. It feels like your eardrums are just going to explode. I stood in there for ten seconds and couldn’t stand it anymore.”

The group tried to rest during the eye of the hurricane. Shelby dragged a pullout couch to the bedroom next to the sliding glass doors.

“I didn’t fall asleep, but I was in a daze,” Shelby said. “The seal popped out of the glass window. The glass was moving and you could hear a screeching. The glass was hitting each other on the edges.”

After the eye of a hurricane passes, the wind changes direction. The weather began beating against the sliding glass doors opposite the wooden door.

“We decided we weren’t going in (the bedroom) because the glass was going to shatter,” Shelby said. “We pushed the mattress up against the sliding glass doors. If it did break, it would probably go out and not in.”

Although the glass remained intact, Shelby said water poured in from everywhere. By the end of the hurricane, three inches of water mixed with sand flooded the hotel floor.

“The roof flew off,” Shelby said. “We were on the third floor, and there are five. They make their roofs out of mosaic (tile) so it’s heavy. It was blowing around. That broke a lot of people’s windows.”

At 2:30 a.m., the hurricane subsided. Shelby said the aftermath scared her more than the hurricane.

“I didn’t know if I was ever going to make it back because of the looting,” Shelby said. “They broke into every single store and took everything. They took Christmas wrapping paper, everything you can think of. They were so desperate.”

Shelby said the federal government allowed thousands of people to take the items.

“They just stood there and watched to make sure nobody was killing each other,” Shelby said. “The looters ran out of stores. We thought they were going to come to our hotel. We all slept with knives. I slept with my fishing knife.”

Shelby’s mother, who had stayed at home, could not talk with the family for two days because the Mexican government had closed down communication.

“They shut down everything on the Baja,” Shelby said. “Trying to get home was the worst thing ever.”

The group flew back to America Sept. 18, stayed overnight in Houston and arrived home the next day. Shelby missed 10 days of school, and the group arrived home five days later than planned.

“They said Odile was the worst hurricane to ever hit the Baja,” Shelby said. “I want to go back next year. I know, I’m crazy.”