Pray for Southport couple stranded in Hurricane Irma

Pray for Southport couple stranded in Hurricane Irma

A Southport couple are preparing to face down the challenge of a lifetime as they wait out Hurricane Irma.

Coleen Davies and her husband Tim currently find themselves on the wrong side of the Atlantic, stranded from an air ride home because of Hurricane Irma: one of the most dangerous storms ever to hit Central America in recorded history.

The lifelong sandgrounders have messaged OTS News asking our readers to send prayers and well wishes while they wait out the potentially lethal storm in Florida.

The duo, from Meols Cop in Southport, have only each other for company and cannot escape the path of the deadly storm as it careers towards them with frightening ferocity. Please send your well wishes and good thoughts to the couple, so that they may return safe and sound.

Irma was first classified as a tropical storm on August 30 and rapidly intensified over the following days, becoming a category four hurricane on September 4.

Then winds reached a peak of 130mph but soon became the strongest for more than a decade when sustained winds peaked at 185mph.

The Turks and Caicos Islands government has declared a national shutdown as the category five storm continued to tear across the Caribbean, with life-threatening wind, rain and a storm surge expected into Saturday.

The British Virgin Islands, which saw houses reduced to their foundations and many roads impassable following the “devastating” storm, has declared a state of emergency.

Thousands of British tourists believed to be in the Caribbean have been warned to follow evacuation orders while some have been advised to stay in their hotel rooms.

States of emergency have been declared in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Florida, where the storm is due to make landfall this weekend.

The Foreign Office has set up a hotline for people affected by the disaster and for people whose loved ones may be affected on 020 7008 0000.