Brits who dreamed of a stunning holiday in Florida have been left devastated as they hide out in hotels and brace for Hurricane Milton.
Cities on the southern state’s coastlines have been evacuated after officials ordered ‘flee or die’ warnings before 15 foot storm surges devastate entire communities.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management has urged everyone in the area to ‘take cover’ and shelter in a reinforced room as 120mph gales smash into the region.
The storm has already wrecked destruction as tornadoes rip across the suburban landscape, with the tempest barreling forward and the rest of Florida bracing for impact.
The first of those to be killed by the storm were in Saint Lucie County when a tornado struck the Spanish Lakes Country Club, where residents of the retirement community had sheltered.
And tourists who found themselves stuck in America with cancelled flights are now waiting for the worst of the hurricane arrive as they hide in hotel rooms meant for happier times.
Chris, 32, and Leah Kennedy, 27, had saved up for the perfect honeymoon, in an extravagant adventure far from their Bedfordshire home.
Leah – who had come to Florida when she was only a toddler with her family – had always dreamed of coming back, and had just reunited with her parents, cousin and two younger sisters, aged nine, 13 and 16, before the storm approached.
But now all seven of them are bunkered down in a single room on the eighth room of a hotel at Orlando’s Universal park as they wait for the hurricane to arrive.
Leah told : ‘We’re stuck inside the hotel room at the moment, everything’s been closed down.
‘We’re trying to stop them look out the window, which is a very hard task at the moment, when you’re hearing everything. We’ve played a lot of UNO and a lot of heads up games just to try and keep everyone occupied.
‘The children are coping well – obviously it’s giving a bit of PTSD from Covid, all trapped in the same room all together, but they’re doing very well bearing in mind everything that’s happening.
‘Obviously, it’s not a nice start to the holiday when you want to be going around seeing Minnie and Mickey, but they’re doing very well.’
Like many others, their hotel is now being used as a hub for locals to find safety during the storm.
She continued: ‘We’re seeing families and young babies and pets all come here as well. They’ve got sandbags everywhere, and it’s just obviously a bit frightening because it’s the wind’s definitely picking up and it’s getting a lot stronger.
‘There’s still staff on duty that have been very helpful. They’ve just obviously told us to just stay in our room just to see the storm out and stay away from the windows.’
Julie Wood, 62, fled from Tampa to Miami Beach last week with her husband and another couple as the weather reports started rolling in.
The couple, from Birmingham, had holidayed in Florida for 20 years and even owned a home in Cape Coral, but are now waiting for the storm to arrive in a hotel in Miami Beach.
She said: ‘It all started to kick off lightly this morning, but now it’s getting quite windy and scary out there, so we’ve just kind of bunkered down in the hotel bedroom now for the rest of the day.
‘We knew the hurricane was on its way, but we were just hoping and praying that Cape Coral would escape it. We were in one of the evacuation zones, so we left two days ago.
‘We have closed the window because we don’t particularly want to see the storm, to be honest. It’s very, very windy to see. The sea is really, really rough – the palm trees are scary.
‘We’re traveling with another couple who are the same age as us. We’ve got two separate rooms, but we might all sleep in the same bed tonight if it gets too scary!’
Even Karen Brown, 62, and her partner partner Guy Melidoni, also 62, has not managed to escape the trap of the hurricane – despite owning an independent travel agency, Market Place Travel, in Burton-on-Trent.
She should have been flying away tomorrow, before airlines grounded their planes – but she says she has still been able to make the best of holiday, and has even enjoyed an impromptu cruise.
But now, with a tornado just 20 minutes away from her room, she is dreading the weather striking.
Karen said: ‘Looking out the window it’s quite bad rain at the minute coming into Orlando. We think the hurricane is hitting in possibly three hours but they are more concerned about the next half an hour with the tornado. So we’ve got that to contend with as well!
‘They’ve moved everybody from the from the coastline and into our hotel.
‘They’ve got dogs in here. It’s a bit like Crufts – they’ve there’s possibly 200 dogs here.
‘I think they’ve shipped hundreds and hundreds of people into it- our floor is like a care home. They’ve brought a lot of people from the homes into it, on wheelchairs, on stretchers, with all the medication.’
And as the weather rapidly worsens shocking video footage shows the palm trees outside her window being battered by savage winds.
Karen continued: ‘Looking out the window now, you literally can’t see your hand in front of your face.
‘And then outside of the hotel, we’ve got probably 50 trucks which been brought in for when all the power lines are down. It’s been incredible.
‘We’re on floor six, but you can’t use the lifts later on, they’ve told us. So should anything we will be using the stairwells. I think everyone is concerned but everyone is taking care of one another.
‘As we look out the window, you can see the weather deteriorating by the minute, literally getting grayer and grayer. It’s just not knowing what to expect.’
Nicola and Ian Stevens, from Lancaster are currently in Osceola, near Kissimmee, as they prepare to wait out the tornado.
They have an 8pm curfew, where anyone caught outside after that time will be given a $500 fine, and are expecting their power to cut out at 10pm.
Nicola said: ‘The weather is steadily getting worse but we still have power at the minute. The worse case is it hits Sarasota, which would cause the surge to Tampa which is what they most worried about.
‘The feel seems different than Hurricane Ian due to the curfews and warnings. I do think this one will be worse than the others but hoping not.
‘From my memory of Hurricane Ian the scary bit is when we lose power – we have been told we should get the eye at around 3-4 am.
‘The rain is causing some flooding around so I think this will be the worst problem as we have had lots of rain before the storm.’
Insurance worker Thomas Arthur Ford, from Leicestershire, said that he felt safe in Disney’s Polynesian Villiage Resort, alongside his partner and three-year-old son.
He said: ‘It’s extremely windy, with palm trees bending over to breaking point.
‘We were in the parks this morning which were absolutely dead – in fact it was pretty much the locals who had come from the coast to Disney as a refuge just due to how it is built.
‘I feel fine because where we are. I feel lucky to be able to stay in Disney. It’s a scary feeling, but I feel safe where we are. I’d rather be here than in a villa, or somewhere that is not built to this standard.’
Hurricane Milton is already causing ‘catastrophic’ flooding as it makes landfall with shocking drone footage showing giant 28-foot waves.
The storm has officially made landfall in Sarasota County near Siesta Key as a Category 3 hurricane, as residents are desperately urged to find shelter.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management said in an apocalyptic warning: ‘Hurricane Milton is approaching landfall along West Central FL. Treat these imminent extreme winds as if they were a tornado!
‘Take cover now & shelter in a reinforced interior room! Avoid all windows & stay inside until the storm fully passes.’
US President Joe Biden has warned Florida residents to evacuate now in a desperate last ditch effort to save lives as Hurricane Milton begins.
The tempest is expected to bring 160mph winds and 15-foot storm surges with it as it tears across the state. Around 125 homes have already been destroyed in the horrific weather.
The latest update from the National Hurricane Centre warned the deadly storm’s catastrophic march over Florida’s west coast has started.
Entire palm trees have reportedly been ripped from their trunks and terrifying footage shows vehicles racing away from the incoming storm.
One video posted by the NOAA shows massive, 28-foot waves caused by the weather – twice the size of a London bus.
Violet, crackling lightening can be seen in further ominous footage posted from its satellites, and photos show shattered homes and ghostly, deserted streets.
Locals in the path of Milton have been warned to brace for a 12 foot wall of water, known as a storm surge, that will destroy everything in its path.
Its steady and potentially catastrophic march has brought it to the west coast of Florida, where officials sounded urgent warnings for residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival.
President Biden called it ‘one of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida in over a century’. Despite this, some stubborn residents believe they can ride it out by hunkering down in their homes and even a boat, posting videos on TikTok.
Pop star Taylor Swift has donated $5 million to help with the relief efforts to rebuild once the tempest passes.
People raced to board up homes and flee today as Biden said from the White House: ‘It’s a matter of life and death, and that’s not hyperbole’, urging those under orders to leave to ‘evacuate now, now, now.’
He earlier condemned Donald Trump of unleashing an ‘onslaught of lies’ over the his response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene, saying: ‘There’s been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies.’
As of midnight UK time, Hurricane Milton has begun the process of making landfall, according to an update from the National Hurricane Centre.
‘The northern eye-wall of Hurricane Milton is now spreading ashore in the Tampa/St Petersburg metro area where an Extreme Wind Warning is now in effect,’ it said.
Insured losses from Milton could be from $60-$100 billion if the hurricane makes direct landfall in the densely populated area of Tampa, analysts at Morningstar DBRS said – losses which are in line with that of Katrina.
Around 285,314 homes and businesses across Florida are now without power and there is severe flooding in Naples.
Water levels have risen by more than a foot in the last two hours and are now 3.7 feet above normally dry ground.
Fort Myers is said to be nearing three ft of water above the ground.
The hurricane is hurling rain, tornadoes and tropical storm-force winds at the US as time begins to run out for residents to evacuate from the potentially catastrophic path the storm was carving toward Florida.
The National Service Center issued an alert at 2.30pm EST to those in Hurricane Milton’s path, saying it is now time to shelter in place.
‘It’s time to shelter-in-place from #Milton. Tropical-storm force winds, flooding rains, and tornadoes are spreading inland across FL,’ the agency said on social media.
‘Unless a life-threatening situation arises, stay indoors and follow updates.’
Emergency services have been suspended in the area where Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall within hours.
Sarasota police said: ‘At 5:39 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, our last patrol vehicle returned to Headquarters. Sustained wind speeds are too strong for emergency services to respond.
‘We will now wait out the storm, just like you, and once it passes, we will begin our rescue and recovery process.’
The National Hurricane Centre stressed that it was not certain where Milton’s centre would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm’s path might ‘wobble,’ but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk.