Hurricane Irma: Kiwi caught in the eye of the storm

Michelle Landers. Photo/File

A Hastings woman has hunkered down in her Orlando hotel room while she watches the lights flicker, the windows rattle and the destructive wind blow.

Hawke's Bay Today's retail account manager Michelle Landers, after spending six weeks exploring the states on holiday, is now trapped in what resembles a ghost town as Hurricane Irma unleashes on the state of Florida.

"Just yesterday we were at Walt Disney World and it was beautiful then all of a sudden the weather turned at lunchtime today."

Since the hurricane made its mark the shops have closed, petrol stations have run out of petrol and a curfew is in force on the roads, which took effect on Sunday at 7pm, American time.

The shops are not expected to reopen until Tuesday.

The state was completely out of plywood with home owners boarding up their homes before evacuating.

Ms Landers said shelters had popped up all over the place in local schools and a lot of the evacuees were staying in her hotel.

"The supermarkets are shut so a lot of people have stocked up but we didn't really take too much notice of it until later on so we have some Smirnoff, Kahlua and beer to see us through."

For dinner the Chinese restaurant near the hotel came and took everyone's orders before delivering meals to their rooms, which Ms Landers said was fantastic.

"The hotel provide breakfast tomorrow so we will just stock up on that too and we should be all right."

Ms Landers said it had been a massive operation so far with police strolling the streets, emergency services everywhere and the main power company geared up and ready to go.

Luckily for Ms Landers their hotel was one of the few left with power, however it was still going in and out.

"The lights are flickering so I am not sure how much longer we will have it for as the storm is meant to get worse in the early hours of the morning."

The hotel had an emergency plan in place and was well equipped with torches, ice vending machines for chilly bins and an evacuation route.

So far the heavy rain had been constant but Ms Landers said the powerful wind gusts would come and go.

"We have been told this usually happens before the worst of the storm so I don't think we have experienced it properly yet."

The hotel was filled with evacuees from Miami and other parts of Florida, who Ms Landers said were all feeling very nervous.

"We're talking about their homes here, a lot have left them and unlike us who have a home to fly back to they may not. Our biggest issue of getting out of Florida is nothing compared to their situation."

Ms Landers was due to fly home on Sunday but her flight was cancelled and she was now scheduled on a flight leaving on Wednesday.

"I don't know whether its the Kiwi attitude or because we haven't experienced anything quite like this before but we are quite relaxed at the moment."