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Hurricane Irma Strands Teacher, Family In Nightmare

DENVER (CBS4) - Hurricane Irma has stranded a teacher and her family on vacation.

Susan Rich, a teacher at Lowry Elementary School, and her family hid in the corner of a room in Turks and Caicos for 15 hours, hoping they'd be spared Irma's wrath.

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Susan Rich talking with CBS4's Stan Bush (credit: CBS)

"The wind was unbearable and very frightening," she said.

The Turks and Caicos islands were first in Irma's path of destruction, ripping apart cabanas and uprooting trees near where Rich was sheltered.

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(credit: CBS)

The resort where the Rich family is staying is now a shelter for the storm's refugees.

"Many of the staff members here have no home to go to, the resort is putting many of the employees up in rooms here."

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(credit: CBS)

Rich and her family, two of them infants, have been stranded for more than a week as airlines have cancelled nearly a dozen flights the teacher hoped to have booked.

Thousands are now living with no power, and limited access to food and clean water.

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(credit: Susan Rich)

Rich says she's lucky they were at the resort when the storm hit.

"Cellular service has been sketchy but we fared much better than the rest of the island."

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