A COUPLE who were in Florida to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary when Hurricane Irma struck relied on their Bolton connections to survive the giant storm.

John and Grainne Bradford were forced to flee their hotel in Miami Beach when the government ordered a mandatory evacuation of the area.

The pair, who run The Brooklyn, in Great Lever, had not booked on a package deal so were effectively ‘out on the street’ with no help.

Mr Bradford said: “They knocked on the door and said everybody has to be out by 3am , the hotel is closing. We said ‘where do we go’ and they said we had to do whatever we needed to do.

“They threw us out on the street. The only things were the shelters, or to head for the airport.

“We didn’t think going to the airport was a good idea and the shelters are like big sports halls, with tiny beds. They are safe but a bit hectic, and a bit scary as well as we’ve never done anything like that.”

The 58-year-old publican said that seeing a deserted Miami was chilling in itself.

He said: “The place was like a ghost town, I’ve never seen anything like that.

“We were among the last ones out and for a big, busy city to be like that is scary in itself.”

Fortunately Florida-based singer Martin Gallagher, who hails from Bolton, and had performed at the Brooklyn, offered them shelter while the storm raged.

Mr and Mrs Bradford are friends with Mr Gallagher’s daughter, Selina Scott, and the musician learned of the couple’s predicament via Facebook.

He drove to Miami picked them up and headed 180 miles up the coast to Melbourne

The couple sheltered in Mr Gallagher’s conservatory when Irma hit.

Mr Bradford said waiting for the huge storm to pass had been ‘an experience’ like no other.

He said: “There was lightning and mad rain and half the trees snapped in the back garden, it was a bit scary. It went on all night, I couldn’t really sleep.

“If you have never been in one, you don’t know what it’s like.”

He added: “The morning after a lot of branches had come down, a lot of palm trees had blown over and all the big signs were damaged. And all the lights they have hanging up in America were all over the place.

“But all the damage was superficial, we got away with it really, because all the houses were intact.”

The torrential rain also had a dramatic effect on their surroundings.

“ There was a grass verge, about the size of a bowling green, in front of where we were staying was full of water, it was like a lake, it was unbelievable,” said Mr Bradford.

After the storm the power was out and the couple then headed north to Orlando, where friends from Bolton —Francesca Derbyshire, her dad Harold ‘Macca’ McKenzie and brother Thoms Burke —had offered them space in their holiday apartment.”

Mr Bradford added: “It was a Bolton thing, without the two families that helped us, God knows what would have happened. We would probably still be out there now. I can’t say how much they helped us, I can’t put it into words.”

The couple faced huge queues at Orlando International Airport but finally arrived home on Thursday morning.