‘We may run out of supplies on our island’

BRITISH HOLIDAYMAKERS and expats in the US have spoken of their terror after the most powerful storm ever seen in the Atlantic Ocean battered Florida and left them shocked by the extent of the damage.

The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm yesterday after smashing into Florida with 100mph winds and torrential rain.

In Florida, 10ft storm surges overwhelmed roads and buildings, cutting off Florida Keys from the mainland.

Residents and holidaymakers were ordered to stay indoors until the storm had passed.

Matt and Zoe Caveney, from Liverpool, were forced to spend much of their honeymoon confined to their hotel room at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Mr Caveney, 28, who married Zoe, 22, on August 5, said: “I’ve never seen rain or wind like it in my life.

“With Orlando being in central Florida we aren’t getting it as bad as the coastal towns, but there are very strong winds and heavy rain battering down. We can hear the wind battering the door and trees outside.

“All the parks have been closed as of Saturday 7pm local time and won’t be opening again until Tuesday morning at the earliest.

“We are currently on curfew and have been told to stay in our hotel rooms. We were advised to purchase enough food and water in to keep us going through the weekend.

“We’re pretty calm about the whole thing – if a little apprehensive. BORIS JOHNSON, inset, has defended the Government’s response to Hurricane Irma, insisting that criticism of its reaction to the “biggest consular crisis” the country had faced was “completely unjustified”.

The Foreign Secretary faced claims that the UK had done less to evacuate its citizens than other nations and did not have the correct equipment in place to deal with the catastrophe in the Caribbean.

Mr Johnson said there had been an “unprecedented” effort to deal with the aftermath of the It’s all frustrating with it being our honeymoon and obviously everyone back home is concerned too.”

James Stuart, who is on holiday in Orlando with his mother and brother, said they were “holed up helplessly” and the weather was “unbelievable”.

Andrew Trickett, from Shropshire, is on holiday in Orlando with his wife Sandy.

The 56-year-old said: “The biggest storm in the region since records began.

Mr Johnson, inset, was challenged about claims from the father of a stranded Briton that the Government’s response had shown a “callous disregard” to its citizens.

Geoffrey Scott Baker, whose daughter Amy Brown is on Saint Martin, said: “Nothing is happening. wind is picking up here – it’s at 68mph and is going to get worse.

“There’s a curfew for the next 24 hours which is advisable as it would be very dangerous to be out there.

“It’s been scary but not as bad as they were forecasting earlier this week.

“We are lucky compared to people in the south-west of Florida who’ve had to evacuate.”

House-to-house searches were set to begin in Florida Keys yesterday for people who needed help and to assess damage.

Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi said they were “prepared for the worst” and suspects that fatalities will come to light as searches continue.

At least 34 people are reported to have been killed as Irma made its way across the region, while thousands have been left homeless.

However, National Hurricane Centre yesterday said the storm “should continue to lose strength and fall below hurricane intensity”, as it continues its path northwards.

But forecasters have warned the threat to life still remains.

Powerful storm surges could also cause more devastating flooding across the state.

Forty-two bridges that link the Florida Key with the mainland were being assessed for damage.

Reports suggested that around 10,000 people stayed behind to ride out the storm.

Recovery and aid efforts are also under way in the worst-affected Caribbean islands, while many British nationals are working to piece together their lives from the ruins of the storm.

Around 2,350 UK holidaymakers in Cuba are waiting to be evacuated by Thomas Cook within the next few days. “It seems that everybody can airlift their citizens out except for the UK who are doing absolutely nothing on the ground.” He said his daughter was at risk from looters and added: “The British response has been absolutely pitiful.” Mr Johnson responded that Saint Martin was controlled by the Dutch and French who had been evacuating people in accordance with their medical need. A BRITISH DJ has said she fears her trapped family may run out of supplies as they await rescue following Hurricane Irma.

Laura Elliott said her fiance and two young children remain stuck at their home in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, surrounded by a “collapsed jungle”.

The 38-year-old, who was working abroad when the storm hit, said the family had four or five days’ worth of food left. She has lived on the island for two years with fiance Andrew Jowett, 10-month-old son Oscar and 23-month-old daughter Isla.

Ms Elliott told the Press Association: “I didn’t hear anything for three days after it hit and there were a lot of people out there that we hadn’t heard from, so we feared the worst.

“I’ve heard from them now and they do have food and water and supplies and they are OK for the minute. But where the house is, it’s just very difficult to get to them because they are kind of engulfed by a collapsed jungle.

“People are trying to make efforts to evacuate them but they can’t actually get them to a plane or a boat or anything like that.”

Meanwhile, Sarah Penney, a UK citizen who was born and raised on Tortola, said a washerdryer could have taken her with it as it was lifted off the ground. The 33-year-old was saved by her friend, who managed to push the appliance away and into the direction of the wind.

She said: “I sincerely would not be alive, I would not have survived Hurricane Irma, had he not been there.”