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A British expat delivering aid to tourists stuck in hotels in Florida has said Hurricane Milton is the worst storm he has seen in 25 years.
The category 3 storm made landfall on Wednesday night with winds of over 100mph.
Phil Peachey, originally from west London, has been living in Orlando for 25 years and has been helping to deliver water and supplies to visitors left stranded due to the severe weather conditions.
“This (storm) is very much the worst I’ve ever seen,” he told the PA news agency.
“The winds this morning at around 4am… I live on a golf course and we’ve got some big trees here and I mean these trees were bending in half.”
Mr Peachey, who runs a small transport company looking after British tourists, said there has been a lack of support for holidaymakers.
“Unfortunately, things have changed since the days when tour operators had reps here looking after people,” he said.
“So really, what happens is when these poor tourists on these package holidays arrive, they have no clue of what to do in case of an emergency like this, they don’t know where to shop.
“No one tells them anything… they couldn’t buy water or anything for the kids.
“So I just loaded up the truck, went to the storeroom and bought a load of water.”
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people.
Orange County, where Mr Peachey lives, is under a state of emergency with residents told to prepare for evacuations if conditions worsen, amid an increased risk of tornadoes and up to 12 inches of rain according to the Orange County Government.
“The local government has been good for locals as we understand what’s going on and we live with this every year,” Mr Peachey explained.
“But it’s the tourists, it’s the Brits on vacation from Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales.
“They arrive and they’ve seen storms and hurricanes on the TV, but I mean, once you’re in it, stuck in a sort of budget hotel with small children, that’s scary as hell, isn’t it?
“The hotel doors are rattling and the windows are shaking – what on earth do you do? It’s terrifying.”
Fellow British expat Jan, who lives in Palmetto on Florida’s west coast and did not wish to share her surname, described tiles being ripped from the roof of her home overnight.
A retired technical writer in IT, who grew up in Edmonton, north London, Jan said: “The power went out about 9pm, something hit the house at 9.30pm and we’ve lost tiles from the roof.
“I got this emergency radio about three or four months ago and it was telling us what was happening as it was going on – the wind was going up to about 101 miles an hour and I think up until midnight, we had about 10 inches of rain.
“All the fire alarms went off and the one in the bedroom was dripping water – the cats were running around crying and scared because of the noise.”
Jan said she also has no internet and is unsure when it – and her power – may return after it cut out on Wednesday night.
Hurricane Milton has caused at least four deaths and has left more than three million homes and businesses without power.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said travellers should monitor approaching storms on the US National Hurricane Centre website and follow instructions from local authorities, including evacuation orders.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
