ADVERTISER sub-editor Eileen Smith was among thousands of holidaymakers from the region caught up in Hurricane Charley as it swept across Florida.

Mrs Smith, of Catterick Village, was visiting Orlando with her husband, Andrew, and teenage daughter, Claire, and sat out the terrifying storms in their rented villa in Kissimee, close to the Disney resorts.

Roofs were ripped off and signs hurled across the roads.

Mrs Smith said they followed advice to stay away from the windows in the villa, and sat in the middle of the floor and surrounded themselves with cushions during the height of the storm, which lasted about an hour.

She said: "It was scary when it was happening.

"We didn't know what was going to happen, the noise of the wind, ripping sounds and things banging around outside made it quite frightening.

"But we were lucky, there was very little damage round where we are staying, but you go a block further down and there's absolute devastation.

Also in Orlando was Ian Clarke, commercial director of Newsquest North-East, publisher of the Advertiser series.

He said: "We were housebound throughout Friday and when we went outside afterwards there had been a lot of damage. It has been quite scary."