A warning of “life threatening” risk from flooding has been made in a Foreign Office travel alert as Hurricane Ian struck Florida.
Although the storm was losing power as it moved inland by 11pm local time, it was still packing winds of 90mph.
Power outages struck 2.2 million homes and businesses, according to website poweroutage.us.
The city of Fort Myers and its surrounding county – a few miles from where the hurricane made landfall on Wednesday – declared a curfew after reports of looting at a petrol station.
Tampa’s mayor warned on Wednesday night that the most dangerous 24 hours lay ahead.
Tui cancelled flights today from Glasgow and Birmingham and tomorrow (Friday) from Gatwick and Newcastle to due to the closure of Melbourne-Orlando airport in addition to Wednesday flights from Manchester and Bristol.
The operator said: “We plan to reschedule the above flights to Florida once the airport has reopened. We are in close contact with Melbourne-Orlando airport, and we will be updating customers as soon as we receive any further information.
“For any Tui customers already in Florida, our resort teams are also on hand to provide support and we ask them to follow any advice issued locally.”
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) told the BBC it will take days before a clear picture of the extent of the damage emerges but it will be “catastrophic”.
In its latest update last night, the NHC said: “Hurricane-force winds, especially in gusts, will continue to spread across central Florida near the core of lan through early Thursday.
“Hurricane conditions are expected along the east-central Florida coast overnight through early Thursday.
“Widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding, with major to record river flooding, will continue across portions of central Florida tonight with considerable flooding in northern Florida, south-eastern Georgia and eastern South Carolina expected tomorrow through the end of the week.
“There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge on Thursday and Friday along the coasts of north-east Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, with hurricane conditions possible.”
In updated travel advice, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said hurricane warnings had been issued for the Fort Myers and Tampa Bay areas of western Florida, “although the entire state may be affected to differing degrees”.
It added: “Strong winds and heavy rainfall are expected. There is a severe and life threatening risk of flooding from rain and coastal storm surges.”
Britons in Florida were advised to closely monitor local and international weather updates from the US National Hurricane Center “and follow the advice of local authorities and/or your tour operator including any mandatory evacuation orders”.
In separate advice for Cuba, hit earlier in the week by Hurricane Ian, the FCDO said: “In the aftermath of a hurricane in Cuba, power, communications and water supplies can be disrupted.
“Even in holiday resorts, utility services may not be guaranteed.”
However, Tui said: “We can confirm that there has been minimal damage to our resorts in Varadero and our flights to Cuba continue to operate as normal.”