Stranded Scots taking shelter in Florida as Hurricane Milton hits
The storm has now made landfall
Scottish holidaymakers trapped in Florida, with flights to and from the UK are cancelled, are telling us about their fears as the "dangerous and destructive" Hurricane Milton makes landfall.
Milton arrived near Siesta Key, Florida at about 8.30pm local time. The US National Hurricane Centre reports the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 120mph.
About 90 minutes later it was centred about 20 miles (30 kilometres) northeast of Sarasota and had weakened slightly with maximum sustained winds of 110mph (175ph), becoming a Category 2 storm, and later reduced in status again to Category 1.
Blackouts from the damaging storm have plunged more than 2 million people into darkness so far, as per the electrical fault website poweroutage.us.
“I’m not leaving the area”
Tracy Millar, from the Gorbals area of Glasgow is trying to get home after her booked flight back from Orlando with TUI was cancelled.
She told Clyde 1 News: "The hotel is fully booked, and we have to keep coming back to see if there have been any cancellations. But every time you go down there is a huge - and I mean huge - queue of folk trying to do the same thing.
"I'm not leaving the area, I've got nowhere else to go! They're telling me not to leave the hotel because it's not safe to do so.
Tracy has had to pay an extra $109 for one additional night in the room.
"It's very off-putting to be stuck here," she says. "We're on the 9th floor, but they keep telling you these hotels were built to withstand hurricanes."
“We’re watching the news all the time”
Travel reporter Keryn Matthew is also in Orlando with her family.
"A lot of people are evacuating from the west coast to Orlando and the hotels here, and the advice is to stay inside for the next 24 hours. So as long as we stay inside we should be okay, but we've got out supplies and we're just ready to wait it out,” she told us.
"There is a warning that there could be flooding as well. We're watching the news all the time and having constant updates. Everyone is in the same boat."
Will it affect us here?
The Met Office said the hurricane could bring uncertainty to UK weather next week if its remnants end up in the Atlantic, but added Milton was "highly unlikely to reach the UK".
Milton is expected to weaken to a tropical storm once over the open waters of the Atlantic and transition into an extratropical storm after it passes to the south of Bermuda.
Beyond this, Milton's remnant is likely to "either be absorbed into a frontal zone or dissipate in situ in the subtropical Atlantic", the Met Office said.
Tour operator Virgin Atlantic Holidays has cancelled holidays booked to the Gulf Coast areas of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg for departures up until and including October 18, and for Orlando departures up until and including October 10.
Travel advice
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.
A UK Government spokesperson said: "We are closely monitoring the development of Hurricane Milton towards the United States.
"We urge all British nationals in Florida, or travelling to the region, to follow the FCDO travel advice, as well as guidance from local authorities."
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