'I didn't stop praying all night'

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British accountant Matthew Byrne, 32, his heavily pregnant partner Alice and their baby daughter were stranded in their house in Grand Turk for 12 hours as Hurricane Ike battered the island, bringing winds of 135mph (215km/h).

The couple, from Dartford, south east London, only moved to the Turks and Caicos four weeks ago. They are now hoping to return to the UK to have their baby.

MATTHEW'S STORY The day before the hurricane struck, we prepared for the storm by boarding up all the windows and shutting ourselves in the house.

The hurricane struck at about 8pm on Saturday night. The noise was horrific - it was the scariest thing I have ever heard.

About half an hour later the power went out, so we relied on candles and a torch.

Turks and Caicos residents were "holding on for life", the PM saidWater started leaking into the rooms and the ceilings fell in.

We bunked in the bathroom - it is one of the safest rooms in the house because it doesn't have windows.

We stayed there for 12 hours. I didn't stop hoping and praying all night.

The most important thing was keeping Alice calm. My daughter, Florence, who is nearly one, slept for three or four hours. Luckily she didn't realise what was going on.

But the baby is due on 3 October, so Alice needed to stay calm.

Every 15 minutes I would check the house, check the rafters in the ceilings and empty buckets of water. It was the only thing to do to pass the time, to stay awake.

It felt like we were in a blackened cell, it was horrendous. The 12 hours felt like three days.

'Devils talking'

But we escaped relatively unscathed. Our house backs onto the beach and although 2in (50mm) of water filled our house and ceilings fell in, the windows didn't cave and the house is structurally sound.

Other houses were near enough flattened. There is destruction and debris everywhere. Power and cables are lying on the roads. There is no power - only a few houses have generators.

But after 24 hours of listening to the noise of the wind when you are tired, you become delusional - it sounds like devils talking.

The hospital roof has been blown off and I am worried about how long the authorities will take to get things up and running again.

Two UK naval ships have already arrived - and one is meant to be fixing the roof - but we don't want to take any chances.

We are packing up and hoping to get on an unscheduled plane to a neighbouring island, Provo, at 5.20pm on Monday. From there we can fly to Miami, and then back to the UK.

Lots of people left the island ahead of the hurricane and flew to the US or Jamaica, but my boss thought it would be ok, so we decided to stick it out.

On Sunday night we stayed in my boss' house.

We have been lucky, we are all alive. Most people stocked up on food supplies and water before the hurricane. But the flood water is smelly and sanitation is a problem.

We still want to return after the baby is born - so long as there is not another hurricane.