British family on dream holiday to Florida to celebrate youngest daughter beating leukaemia reveal Hurricane Milton hotel lockdown hell

A British family who have travelled to Florida for a dream holiday to celebrate their youngest child beating cancer have been forced to lockdown in a hotel as Hurricane Milton crashes through the US state.

The Ball family, from Billericay, Essex, had arrived at Disney World Orlando on Saturday for what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime to mark their daughter overcoming leukaemia.

But the holiday has been thrown into chaos by Hurricane Milton, which has forced millions to flee Florida as 120mph winds rip through the state.

Thousands of British families have had flights to Florida cancelled, with those already there having to bunker down.

Instead of exploring Disney World with their children, the Balls were forced to evacuate their hotel before being urgently relocated to secure Disney accommodation the next day.

'I think anyone that can leave Orlando is trying to get out of the eye of the storm,' Jonathan Ball told BBC News.

Mr Ball, his wife and their three children have been advised to stay in the new hotel until at least Thursday afternoon.

Although Orlando is not at the centre of the devastating hurricane's path, those in the region have been warned about flash floods and strong winds.

Mr Ball told how the family had seen water supplies stripped in shops, while there were also petrol shortages as people tried to flee the region.

 'We were in a taxi and one of the drivers said 'You know it's bad if Disney closes' - and Disney is closing,' Mr Ball added.

'We've had lots of messages, mostly saying how gutted they are for us. Everyone's worried but they know we're in a safe place now.' 

Milton has struck just two weeks after another major hurricane, Helene, devastated Florida and other southeastern states - killing at least 235 people, with emergency crews still working to provide relief. 

British woman Jennie Flin told the BBC that Hurricane Milton is the second storm she has been caught up in during her honeymoon in Florida.

'We were evacuated out of Clearwater during Hurricane Helene and now we're experiencing our second hurricane on our honeymoon,' she said.

Elsewhere, Chris, 32, and Leah Kennedy, 27, had saved up for the perfect honeymoon, in an extravagant adventure far from their Bedfordshire home.

Leah - who had come to Florida when she was only a toddler with her family - had always dreamed of coming back, and had just reunited with her parents, cousin and two younger sisters, aged nine, 13 and 16, before the storm approached.

But now all seven of them are bunkered down in a single room on the eighth room of a hotel at Orlando's Universal park as they wait for the hurricane to arrive.

Leah told MailOnline: 'We're stuck inside the hotel room at the moment, everything's been closed down.

'We're trying to stop them look out the window, which is a very hard task at the moment, when you're hearing everything. We've played a lot of UNO and a lot of heads up games just to try and keep everyone occupied. 

'The children are coping well - obviously it's giving a bit of PTSD from Covid, all trapped in the same room all together, but they're doing very well bearing in mind everything that's happening.

'Obviously, it's not a nice start to the holiday when you want to be going around seeing Minnie and Mickey, but they're doing very well.'

Like many others, their hotel is now being used as a hub for locals to find safety during the storm.

She continued: 'We're seeing families and young babies and pets all come here as well. They've got sandbags everywhere, and it's just obviously a bit frightening because it's the wind's definitely picking up and it's getting a lot stronger.

'There's still staff on duty that have been very helpful. They've just obviously told us to just stay in our room just to see the storm out and stay away from the windows.'

Other British nationals in Florida expressed their 'anxiety' ahead of Milton making landfall.

Kate Collins, 52, told the PA news agency she is not living in a mandatory evacuation zone but has gathered supplies for the hurricane.

Ms Collins, who was raised in Plymouth and moved to Florida 30 years ago, said she is sheltering with five people and five dogs in her home in Volusia County, which is under mandatory curfew from 8pm local time on Wednesday.

'The mood in the house is definite anxiety. Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,' Ms Collins said.

Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida at about 8.30pm local time yesterday. The US National Hurricane Centre reports the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 120mph.

About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton 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, the hurricane centre reported.

The US National Weather Service has issued the highest level of flood warning to more than two million residents within Milton's path.

Blackouts from the damaging storm have plunged more than 2 million people into darkness so far, as per the electrical fault website poweroutage.us.

Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Tui are among the airlines to have cancelled flights between the UK and Florida.

A number of airports in Florida have closed to commercial operations, including Orlando International, Melbourne Orlando International and Tampa International.

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'.

The weather service said Milton was expected to be a 'dangerous and destructive hurricane as it makes landfall', with the risk of a substantial storm surge.

Met Office tropical prediction scientist Julian Hemming said Milton's 'extremely strong winds' could cause 'severe structural damage'.

He added: 'But also the thing we're really concerned about is the storm surge.

'And around the hurricane, and particularly to the south of the eye of the hurricane, we could get a storm surge of up to 15ft, which would cause extreme flooding along the coastal strip.'

Mr Hemming said there could potentially be 300 to 400 millimetres of rain over the next two days over central parts of Florida.

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.

On Wednesday, British Airways cancelled six flights connecting Gatwick with Orlando and Tampa.

Tui has also said its flying programme will be 'extremely disrupted' due to the hurricane.

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.'