Taysiders caught

City family sleep inside cupboard as storm hits

TAYSIDE holidaymakers today told of their terror after being caught up in Hurricane Irma.

The tropical cyclone gave Florida a coast-to-coast pummelling with winds of up to 130mph recorded on Sunday, swamping homes and boats, knocking out power to millions and toppling massive construction cranes over the Miami skyline.

The 400-mile-wide storm — which has also struck Cuba and the Caribbean — blew ashore in the mostly cleared-out Florida Keys, then s wept up the western coast.

Speaking to the Tele, Taysiders told of being caught up in the deadly storm.

Gail Fraser, 51, from the Brackens area of Dundee, is currently on holiday with her partner Drew, daughter Taylor and another family from Ayrshire. She today revealed that they have been left stranded after their return flights back to Scotland were cancelled.

She added: “The wind started getting really strong and then around 10.30pm, it started to get even worse.

“It was terrifying for the kids. They actually slept in a cupboard because they were so scared.

“We ended up bringing mattresses through to our room and we braved the storm together. Throughout the night the winds were so hard — we were just waiting for something to be blown through the window.

“Our flights have been cancelled. We were supposed to fly out on Friday. I don’t even care about that