Eastbourne man stuck in hurricane-battered Florida

Edgar Mariani was in his Miami home when the category four hurricane struck on Sunday (September 10).

He told the Herald, “Everyone is safe but there has been a lot of destruction.

“I live here in Miami where I own some rental properties, several of which were damaged.

“It is a brand new high rise built to very strict building codes which are hurricane-proof, however the building did lose a few windows from the balconies which became dangerous flying debris.

“Luckily nobody was hit... the building sustained damage but did not lose power like the rest of Miami. Approximately two million people lost power in Florida, currently 500,000 are still without power.”

A former pupil of Cavendish School, Mr Mariani moved from Eastbourne to Florida in 2009.

A major disaster has been declared as large areas of the American state have been flooded, and the Florida Keys islands suffered the catastrophic eye of the storm.

At least 22 people have died in the US in connection with Sunday’s storm, and more than 3.4 million homes were left without power.

Before hitting the US, Irma devastated several Caribbean islands – leaving at least 27 dead and thousands homeless.