CAUGHT IN A HURRICANE

9:38am Thursday 24th July 2008

FORMER Bournemouth resident Garfield Francis has spoken to the Echo after being caught-up in Hurricane Dolly, which hit the Texan coast on Wednesday.

The hurricane hit the US/Mexico border while Mr Francis was at his language school in Matamoros, Mexico.

Mr Francis said: "She hit land at 1.30pm local time and stayed as a Category 1 hurricane for a further six hours overland.

"She is soaking the area and flooding is the biggest problem.

"Trees and power lines have been blown down and winds were reported to be up to 119mph here.

"I will be going to Brownsville on Thursday to check on my house over there. The main street became a river in half an hour."

Insurers have predicted up to $1.2bn worth of damage from the storm, which was expected to dump up to one foot of rain.

Reports suggest nobody has lost their life in the storm.

Mr Francis moved to Texas in 1999, and has close ties with Westbourne Academy in Bournemouth.