Watch this dramatic footage from a Hartlepool man in the eye of a 110mph hurricane in Cancun

Steve Dawson was in Cancun when Hurricane Delta struck today.

He was one of more than 30,000 tourists who were evacuated as the storm approached and government officials warned there was a ‘danger to life’.

In the space of just two hours, Steve’s seafront hotel had gone from being 100 miles away from the centre of the storm to right in the middle of it.

He said: “Because our hotel was on the beach there was a chance of 25ft high waves hitting it so an evacuation order was issued.”

The hurricane was expected to be the worst the area had seen for 15 years.

Holidaymakers were evacuated by coach to a safer inland area.

Steve, who was born in Hartlepool and worked for the Hartlepool Mail for 16 years, and his partner Stella were both in Cancun. He said: “We were transported to the Technical College of Cancu, around 25 miles inland.”

He said there were ‘no beds, just blankets on the floor but to be honest, much more than a lot of the local people with nowhere to go’.

Workmen covered the building in steel cladding to protect it from the storm and vending machines were placed against the doors.

In a series of Facebook messages, Steve spoke the Mail as the hurricane hit the university building.

“We cannot see a thing but the winds are astonishing and the building – a solid steel and concrete school block – is shaking hard.

"We are the only English here, everyone else is American. There are a lot of scared people here.”

Later, Steve added: “Just been announced that we are now in the eye of the storm so they are opening a window or two to let air in.

“It is basically a hot house and would guess the temperature inside is around 38-40 degrees – very humid and sweaty!

“It is scary. There is around 250 of us left in the hotel.

“The good news it is a fast moving storm so should clear by around 2 pm. We have torrential rain and very brutal fast winds and will not be able to see anything outside the building for another 8 hours I suspect.”

Later still, he added: “There is a possibility that we could be here a second night.”

Steve left Hartlepool and moved to Hitchin in Hertfordshire around 30 years ago. He has a national business looking after commercial properties.

He said: “I’m here on holiday celebrating my 60th birthday and was supposed to go to Bali but the Bali lock down was extended to January 1.

"We tried to find somewhere else and Cancun was the only place open. We have been here since September 26.”

Delta was forecast to spend several hours lashing the Yucatan Peninsula before moving into the Gulf of Mexico and growing into a "considerably larger" storm before striking the US Gulf coast.

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