Anne and David Clough, from Astley Bridge, bracing themselves for Hurricane Irma hitting Florida

Anne and David Clough, who live in St Augustine, are making preparations ahead of the arrival of the huge storm, which is about the same size as France.

Irma has already wrought devastation across the Carribean, killing at least ten people as it travelled across St Martin’s, St Bart’s and Barbuda.

The pair, originally from Astley Bridge, weathered Hurricane Matthew last year but Florida has never faced a category five storm such as Irma before.

The storm is expected to hit the state on Sunday morning.

Mrs Clough said: “It’s frightening actually, because of the size of it. It hasn’t weakened, it’s still category five and there’s the uncertainly of where it’s actually going. It’s so big they can’t predict they can’ t predict exactly where it’s going to go, until it turns, which is supposed to be on Saturday.”

But she added that people were keeping their spirits up: “Where I live the people all come together, they really do all help one another out.Nobody is left on their own, everybody rallies round,” she said.