A FORMER bus driver helped residents and holidaymakers escape a stricken Caribbean island, after he and his wife’s silver wedding anniversary trip was disrupted by “brutal” Hurricane Irma.

“I felt I had to do something,” said Alan Hartley, of Newport, who drove a coach on roads strewn with the debris of destroyed homes on the tiny island of Saint-Martin, to take people to the airport.

Mr Hartley and wife Pat arrived on August 30 for a long-planned break - but their idyllic holiday took a sinister turn last Monday.

It was hoped Saint-Martin might escape the ravages of the hurricane, and there was no talk of evacuation. When the situation changed, guests at the Hartleys’ resort were taken to an underground shelter.

“We went down as the storm got brutally bad,” said Mr Hartley.

“It was a big underground storm shelter with camping beds laid out, plenty of food, and even a three-piece band to provide some entertainment that night.

“We felt the full brunt of the storm. We could hear the building literally collapsing in parts above us. At one point a chimney stack fell into the shelter and pierced a hole in the roof.

“This got bigger and it was decided the shelter might not be sufficient to keep us safe, but the staff huddled us all into a smaller internal room.

“We were there for six hours or so, and it was terrible. People were being sick everywhere due to the heat.”

Emerging next morning, they found the resort’s entire kitchen block - from where they had gone underground - destroyed.

People were being taken to the airport by golf cart. Helicopters were evacuating people to the neighbouring island of Saba, which was not so badly affected.

But the carts only took three or four at a time, and there were more than 1,000 people at the resort. Then Mr Hartley had an idea.

“I was a bus driver for 30 years and there were a few coaches on-site, in a garage, that weren’t damaged,” he said.

“I felt I had to do something, but there were no coach drivers around, so I got permission from the resort to take a member of staff with me who knew the island well, and started ferrying people to the airport.

“I made nine trips. It was only a short drive, but took 45 minutes each way due to having to drive around torn down houses.

“We managed to get 387 people to the airport, quicker than they would have by golf cart, so they could get off the island as quickly as possible.

“We finally made it to Saba, and I literally got a hero’s welcome. But I’m not a hero, just a bus driver who felt I had to do something.”

Mr and Mrs Hartley are now safe in Texas, awaiting a flight to the UK next week.

While their ordeal is over, it may be just beginning for another Gwent family.

Tasmin Pickford, James Peckham and their three-year-old daughter, from Blackwood, are among a nine-strong family group staying in a friend’s villa in Orlando, Florida.

They are due to fly home from Orlando airport next Tuesday but, said Ms Pickford, “it looks like it isn’t going to happen”.

“We had a call from the management team of the villas at 8am this morning, telling us to fill all the baths, and bring everything in from outside.

“I’m worried sick. We’ve tried to get in touch with the airline (Norwegian Air). Orlando airport is closing tomorrow (Saturday).”

The group arrived in Florida on August 29, and hired a minibus. They are now debating whether or not to head north, but this may prove difficult.

“We’ve looked at the local news and the roads are choc-a-bloc,” said Ms Pickford, who added that shelters are being opened locally.

“Some of us want to go, some want to stay. We’ve got milk left, but are running really low on other things. There’s no water left in the supermarkets. We’ll have to try Walmart and see what they have.”

She described the weather as “fine at the moment”, but a major worry is a loss of electricity.

“We took a taxi the other day, and the driver was from Puerto Rico. She was trying to contact her family back home, but couldn’t get through,” said Ms Pickford.

Ann Marie Brixey, from Newport but living in Florida, said evacuations are underway in southern areas, and emergency centres are open across the state.

“It’s a case of sit and wait. We’ve no clear idea where the storm will make land, or if we’ll be truly lucky and it will make a turn and go out to sea,” she said.

“We plan to stay, but will prepare for the worst and hope for the best. However, if an evacuation order comes through, we are ready to evacuate.”

The death toll in the wake of the hurricane’s destructive path through the Caribbean has reached 33.

Governor Rick Scott warned that everyone - around 20 million people - in Florida should be ready to evacuate, if necessary.

Now classed as a category four hurricane, Irma is expected to reach south Florida today.

Close behind, ready to wreak more havoc on already devastated areas of the Caribbean, is another category four hurricane, Jose.

* The Foreign Office has set up a hotline - 020 7008 0000 - for those affected by Hurricane Irma, and those who may have loved ons in the affected area.