A FYLDE coast couple have spent two days sheltering from the ferocious Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mike and June Sanderson have a holiday home at Cape Coral on the gulf coast of Florida.
Hurricane Isaac has caused severe flooding and damage in Louisiana and it had been feared the devastation could have been a repeat of Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Mr and Mrs Sanderson were not in the direct path of the hurricane which skirted Cuba before speeding across the gulf towards the southern United States.
But they caught the severe tropical storm which accompanied it.
And Mr Sanderson said: “We just escaped the worst of Isaac though the tropical storm was bad enough.
“We had to put our storm shutters up and sit in the dark for two days but at least we are OK.”
Mr Sanderson, a former Wyre Council councillor, is the owner of Sanderson’s Electrical on Lord Street, Fleetwood.
The hurricane has left thousands of people stranded in their homes, a dawn-to-dusk curfew has been imposed in New Orleans and the National Guard has been mobilised to help deal with the aftermath.
When Isaac struck it was classed as a Category One hurricane – the lowest on a scale of five with winds of up to 95mph.
It was later downgraded to a tropical storm but had already seen massive rainfall hit Louisiana and the Mississippi, creating 12ft tidal surges.
In Cape Coral, residents and businesses prepared for the worst as flooding destroyed property and damaged hundreds of homes.
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