Vickie Kerr traveled down to Playa Encanto near Rocky Point in Mexico for a long and relaxing weekend, something she does often during the spring and fall when the "weather is perfect," she said.
But things didn't go as planned this time for the Scottsdale resident. It definitely was a long weekend, but relaxing? Not so much.
In a message to 12 News, Kerr said the sun was shining when she arrived on Oct. 4. But the road by the beach became impassable because of floodwaters created by the recent storms that ripped through the region -- the same storm named Rosa that impacted and left areas around Arizona flooded.
Kerr was stranded, along with so many others, some with babies and young children, one of whom required stitches after an incident. Though she was concerned for the families with children who had been renting homes in the area, Kerr said she was never concerned for her own safety.
With another storm headed their way, however, Kerr thought it best to look for a way out. At the time, Kerr messaged 12 News saying they were "getting desperate because we have all our water trucked in and the trucks cant use the road - actually the road is gone!"
She said some people hired boats to leave from the beach, but the surf became too rough and high waves were in the forecast for the next few days.
"We couldn’t go that way," she said.
So Kerr left her car and a man, Gerry Stobbs, helped taxi her and her supplies across the flooded road to safety in his four-wheel-drive truck. She said she rode along with him for the next few days as he helped others.
"Up and down the beach," she said.
Kerr said Mexican Marines eventually drove them up the beach to safety at a nearby resort where they found drinking water and a bus ride back to the fire department in Puerto Peñasco.
"Gracias! Gracias!! Gracias!!" Kerr remembers saying to the Marines.
Local news reports from the area say 80 U.S. tourists were evacuated from a beach in Puerto Peñasco because of the impact left behind by rain from tropical storm Rosa.
As of Monday, the road between Puerto Peñasco and Caborca remained closed and the sector of the El Encanto beach was still isolated.
Kerr said she made it back to Arizona Sunday in the car she was previously forced to leave behind.