A mandatory evacuation has been ordered in Florida’s Key West area as the US anticipate the arrival of the “potentially catastrophic” hurricane on Sunday.
And ex Lockerbie Academy pupil Max Rogers, 27, says panic has reached Orlando, where he’s lived and worked for the past year.
Matches at Orlando City Soccer Club, where he works, have been cancelled this weekend in anticipation and he says shops are bursting with people picking up emergency supplies.
Max said: “Most people are panicking, probably because the news has hyped everything up.
“I’m sure it’s going to be bad but apparently even yesterday shops had run out of cases of water.
“People on the coast have started boarding up their windows and moving inland as they will get battered by it.”
The official National Hurricane Centre predicts that Irma will travel straight up the middle of the state.
But the latest computer models, which project possible paths for the storm, show Irma could move further to the east, threatening the Carolinas and the East Coast.
And ABC News have reported that mandatory evacuations have already been ordered for Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys.
Residents were told to start evacuating by 7 pm local time yesterday but many departed from their homes earlier.
And some areas of Florida have already seen fuel shortages, with the hashtag #nogas popping up on social media on Tuesday.
But Max is hopeful he will avoid the worst as plans to travel home to Scotland.
He hopes to move his flight, planned for next week, to tomorrow and avoid the hurricane and panic altogether.
Meanwhile nurse Stacey Kempson-Hopkins, from Brydekirk, is due to fly to Cuba, which is also on Irma’s predicted path, with her fiance on Monday.
She said: “We’re both feeling a bit anxious about going now. I didn’t realise Cuba was going to be affected.
“All we can do now is speak to the airline about and hope that everyone in the affected areas stays safe.”
