Shropshire family caught up in Hurricane Ian hoping to return home after sleepless nights

Andrea Bowen, her husband Mark, and their grandchildren, Tilleigh, 14 and Ollie, 10, were due to fly home to Weston Rhyn after a two-week family holiday in Orlando.

But the airport was closed less than 12 hours before their flight was due to take off on Wednesday evening, amid fears of the intensity of the hurricane.

Hurricane Ian has wind speeds of up to 155mph, just shy of the threshold for a category five storm - the strongest classification.

Only two category five storms have made landfall in the US in the last 30 years.

Now that the storm has passed and is heading towards South Carolina, they have their fingers crossed they will be able to fly home this weekend.

Asked if they were able to get any sleep, Andrea said: "No. It was very rough and kept making a weird swooshing noise. Then, yesterday, the two villas either side of us had their generators going full bore all day until about 3am this morning. All electric is still off in villas but the roads are busy and the airport is open, so fingers crossed we can get home on Saturday night."

Andrea said that their holiday company, Ocean Florida, had to find them alternative accommodation as new holidaymakers were expected in their villa from Wednesday.

"We have to find £450 for the new accommodation, although we have been told we can claim it back on our insurance," she said.

"We were told by Virgin Atlantic that our flight was cancelled and they would rebook us as soon as possible. We have been told to keep our travel documents with us at all times and have a small bag ready with a change of clothes and some toiletries just in case we need to be evacuated."

She said they had been assured by the holiday company that their new villa is hurricane proof and they have been staying there to wait it out.

Earlier this week Andrea said: "We have never experienced anything like this in our lives so we don't know what to expect, but the locals are boarding up their houses and all restaurants and shops were closing up on Tuesday night. They are very concerned, which is frightening.

"We were told to have at least three days worth of food and three gallons of water per person in the villa, as electricity and water expected to go off.

"The supermarket shelves were pretty bare of essentials and no water at all, but we managed to get some from a pharmacy.and have filled up jugs and cups to put in fridge and freezer.

"We we were also told to fill the baths with water to flush the toilets."

She added that rain had been falling non-stop all day on Wednesday.

"It is worrying, as were just told to watch local news and social media for updates."

The children are keeping in touch with their mum, via the internet and Mark is managing his painting and decorating business online, thanks to his staff.