A NORTH-EAST survivor of Hurricane Irma has described as “surreal” and “horrific” the 30 hours spent holed up inside her Miami home as the devastating storm continued its path of destruction.

With no way of safely transporting their 157lb pet pig Princess, professional golfer Stephanie Peareth and her boyfriend made the brave decision not to evacuate ahead of the storm on Sunday which has claimed the lives of dozens in the Caribbean.

The pair gave their beloved pet pig, dog and cat “calming pills” before hiding out in a closet until the storm passed - while a family with roots in Middlesbrough sheltered under a mattress in a wardrobe as Hurricane Irma wreaked destruction on the British Virgin Islands.

Speaking to The Northern Echo on Monday, Miss Peareth, originally of Middridge, near Newton Aycliffe, said: “It was a horrific 30 plus hours of thinking boulders were hitting your house. There are so many fallen trees on the roads and homes, causing so much damage.

“We have no power or air conditioning which has made our home so hot ,living in Miami, and we have no power at all and we don’t know how long it will take to get back. It (Miami) will take some time to rebuild.

“We just kept together as a family and stayed positive. I have a brain condition so stress will make me sicker so my boyfriend was keeping us very calm.

“The worst was the wind - making tornados everywhere and the wind was hitting the home from one direction then it would stop and hit another part of the the house, swirling. It’s only something we have seen in movies so was so surreal.” The eye of the storm was expected to miss where the 25-year-old lives but has caused extensive damage.

Miss Peareth said if there was another hurricane like it, the couple would make plans to evacuate with their pets.

“Next time we will be finding a way to transport animals well ahead of time,” she added. “We would never leave our animals but would try to move them.”

Miss Peareth has played golf since the age of 13 and moved to the United States seven years ago following stints for Durham County Juniors and Durham County Ladies, as well as playing for her club at Oakleaf, Newton Aycliffe. Just days earlier, Clare Chilton, originally from Middlesbrough, her husband and their two children were unable to leave their rented home in Tortola, the largest city of the British Virgin Islands, for more than 24 hours during the category five storm.

They propped a mattress on the upper shelves of the walk-in cupboard and placed another one over their heads during the height of the storm.

Ms Chilton said she felt like “one of the lucky ones” after being rescued and evacuated to Puerto Rico, along with three-year-old son George and seven-year-old daughter Sofia, while her husband remained on the island to assist with the relief effort.

Ms Chilton, 40, told the Press Association: “I managed to escape and that was through the help of various friends who we didn’t even know five minutes before.

“Everyone has just bandied together and got each other out of each other’s houses. We were very lucky because we didn’t see anything. We wanted to keep the children as sheltered as possible.”

The family took shelter at 8.30pm on September 5 and did not emerge until 6.30am two days later, the day after the hurricane.

She added: “Going through and climbing over the rubble, and just seeing people pouring out of their houses - it was like a film.”