A former Winshill man has told how he was caught up in TWO major disasters - Hurricane Irma and then the earthquake in Mexico.

Martin Barnett found himself caught up in Hurricane Irma, which hit Florida at the beginning of the month, where he now lives. He was then later caught up in the earthquake in Mexico after heading over to the University in Puebla, the epicentre of an earthquake, as part of his work.

Hurricane Irma claimed 75 lives as it ripped through the Caribbean and Florida and the Mexico earthquake has so far killed at least 250 people. The death toll could still rise as clear-up work continues.

Martin Barnett has been caught up in hurricane Irma and the earthquake in Mexico

The 55-year-old moved to Tampa in Florida in December last year after being offered the role as senior engineer for camera giant Nikon - and a chance to escape the traditional English weather. He left his home in Kinver Road, Winshill, with his wife Francis and they have set up their new life together there.

It was Hurricane Irma which hit first but Mr Barnett had time to prepare for that and as the pair had just moved in to their new home.

They decided they did not want to evacuate like thousands of others who left their homes behind and sat out the storm.

They had family staying with them at the time so Martin was not at work and had chance to head down to the hardware store to get the wood needed for boarding up the windows and doors. They shored up anything that would move or fall off and made the house as safe as possible.

Hurricane Irma in Florida in pictures taken by Martin Barnett

Mr Barnett said: "The wind started to blow at around 4pm on the Sunday and then by 10pm it was going absolutely crazy. The noise was unbelievable, we are surrounded by trees and we thought they would all be coming down, but they seemed to protect us.

"It is a brick house so we were pretty safe but we thought it could take the roof off. Everyone in the mobile homes were told they had to leave as they were just blown over. The winds hit speeds of 100mph. It was over by around 1am and it was absolutely calm; everything stopped. It went from 100mph to zero - it was amazing.

"I went to walk the dog and take a walk about to see the damage. It was a mess with trees and branches all over the street. I had to check that everything was okay.

"The next day everyone was out in the street to sweep everything up which took around two to three days. There were bulldozers to collect the trees and lots of guys around."

Hurricane Irma in Florida in pictures taken by Martin Barnett

It was the earthquake in Mexico on Tuesday, September 19, that Mr Barnett could not prepare for. He was at the University in Puebla, in Puebla, sout-east of Mexico City, and the epicentre of an earthquake, when he felt the first jolt. This was closely followed by the earthquake which has now killed hundreds of people.

Martin had experienced an earthquake before when he was in Japan, which he described as "gentle", but this one was on a different scale and has led to buildings crumbling to the ground with people trapped inside.

The aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Florida in pictures taken by Martin Barnett

The father-of-two said: "I was by a 10-tonne piece of machine and it was bouncing off the floor, the earthquake was that strong. I was in this room that was the size of a double garage and I just ran outside. The building next to us was three or four storeys high and they were shaking and tumbling with screams coming from the students inside.

"The walls were disintigating. There was around 30 people in the building and they were screaming and crying. It was crazy. We found out afterwards that one student died in that building.

The crumbling walls following the earthquake in Mexico

"I was just stood outside on the glass and the floor was rip-erupted and it chuffed out a cloud of ash. All the electricity went off and the phones went dead. The tremors lasted for around two or three minutes.

"We could see all of the emergency services trying to get to people. If it had happened on the Monday we would still have been in Mexico City where all of the buildings were a lot older and crumbled to the ground."

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