The driving forces behind a well known Burnley and Pendle charity are among the thousands of people stranded in Florida as the state braces itself for the ‘deadly and catastrophic’ Hurricane Milton.

Dave and Fiona King, of the charity BK’s Heroes, were holidaying in the States with their son Dan and his partner Mel when disaster struck. They are currently holed up in the Hilton Hotel in Orlando. They were due to fly home tonight but their flight was cancelled after all airports were closed down.

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Fiona said: “We arrived at the Hilton on Sunday after deciding to leave Sarasota for Orlando early as the the hurricane is expected to hit there first. We were told yesterday that we would have to leave the hotel this morning, which was very stressful and worrying as we had nowhere to go, so we contacted our travel agent and good friend, Maureen Evans of Freedom Travel Longton for help.

Keeping their spirits up are the King family who are stranded in Florida where Hurricane Milton is set to batter the state with winds of up to 165mph

"She worked all day to sort it out for us to stay here. Maureen went above and beyond to find us a safe place.”

A category four storm, Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the Tampa area of Florida tonight, packing ferocious winds of up to 165mph. US president Joe Biden has warned millions of Floridians that leaving the area was ‘a matter of life and death’ as the state undertakes its largest evacuation effort in years.

Although the Kings, who were told by hotel staff to get food and provisions to last them, are in the path of the deadly hurricane, hotels in Florida are considered to the safest places as they are ‘hurricane proofed.’ This means the roof trusses are ‘toe nailed’ into the top of the walls which provides sufficient force to resist high winds. Their room is on the fifth floor of the hotel. The family are now due to fly home on Friday night if the airports re-open.

Dave and Fiona’s other son Ben died in 2016 at the age of 27 after bravely battling inoperable brain tumours. A true inspiration, when Ben was first diagnosed with the tumour in September, 2014, he immediately set up the fund BK’s Heroes. It has become his lasting legacy, honoured by his parents, and all the money raised, totalling more than £150,000, is used to fund research programmes into brain tumours at UCLAN Preston and Preston Royal Hospital as well as a Renal Research Nurse at Preston Royal Hospital.