Influencer Faces Backlash After Posting Videos from Jamaica, Joking Category 5 Hurricane Is Messing with Her Vacation

NEED TO KNOW

• Hannah Grubbs — an influencer with over 360,000 followers across platforms — is dealing with criticism from viewers after posting about her trip in Jamaica amid Hurricane Melissa

• The Category 5 storm is anticipated to make landfall in Jamaica on Oct. 28. At least seven people have died in connection with the Category 5 storm, the Associated Press reported

• Over the past few days, Grubbs has shared videos ranging in tone, with some seemingly joking references to the catastrophic climate event and other more severe “updates” from the island

As Hurricane Melissa nears landfall, some on social media are questioning an influencer’s tone in her Jamaica trip videos.

On Friday, Oct. 24, Hannah Grubbs shared a TikTok of her and a fellow traveler strolling in the airport. In overlaying textual content, she wrote, “Us on our way to Jamaica during a hurricane,” referencing the Category 5 storm anticipated to hit the island on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

In the next days, Grubbs continued to share related content, including a clip of a bartender serving her two drinks. In her caption, she claimed to be “pretending” to ignore the lethal climate event, which had killed at least seven people in other elements of the Caribbean as of October 27, the Associated Press reported.

Viewers have called out the content creator for her online exercise, with some feedback describing it as “disgusting” and “really shameful.”

Category 5 is the very best class on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Major hurricanes in this class have winds reaching at least 157mph. If Hurricane Melissa stays a Category 5 storm when it makes landfall, it might be the strongest storm to do so since record-keeping began in 1851.

According to the BBC, a storm surge of up to 13 toes is anticipated along Kingston, Jamaica’s capital metropolis, and in Montego Bay. After it hits Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa is anticipated to transfer toward Cuba and then The Bahamas. 

On Sunday, Oct. 26, Grubbs posted another video that noticed her standing on a windy balcony by the sea. “Hurricane Melissa out here messing with my vacation,” she wrote.

“Your vacation? What about peoples homes? Businesses?” one TikTok person replied in the feedback. Another individual furthered the sentiment, writing, “People are about to lose everything they own, their loved ones, and their lives.”

Grubbs didn’t immediately reply to PEOPLE’s request for remark.

She’s also posted a number of updates, which vary from videos with associates in the ocean to more severe recaps of ongoings at her trip lodging. Grubbs spoke instantly to her followers on Oct. 27 just after attending a assembly about the anticipated tropical cyclone.

The influencer — who has over 369,000 followers between her Instagram web page and two TikTok accounts — said everybody at the resort was moved to the second ground, and workers was already taking precaution to forestall doubtlessly hazardous destruction.

“This morning they came and put these X’s on our glass door so that if the glass breaks, it will help it … not shatter completely,” said Grubbs. “After dinner, we’re supposed to head to our rooms and not come out until they knock on our doors within the next couple days.”

She also added her “prayers for Jamaica” and “the whole island.”

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