A NORTH-EAST couple who had planned a dream wedding were last night among thousands of British holidaymakers trapped in the devastating path of Hurricane Wilma.

Lynn Bratt and Gordon Steels, who are due to be married today, were sheltering in a reinforced bunker at a hotel in the Mexican resort of Cancun, which was being battered by the storm for a third day.

Meanwhile, the bride-to-be's brother, Michael Bratt, 30, who had flown out to attend the wedding with his partner, Joanne Saint, and their two-year-old son Aidan, had taken refuge in a school, but they were without food and only had water to drink.

Hurricane Wilma was last night heading for Florida, having ripped off roofs in Cancun, shattered windows and flooded streets with its driving rain and 115mph winds.

A hurricane warning was issued for the southern half of Florida as Wilma began beating a path towards the US mainland.

The National Hurricane Centre in Miami warned it could intensify as it roars over the Gulf of Mexico.

It is forecast to hit the towns of Naples and Fort Myers at about dawn, which is also high tide, today.

Wilma, a category two hurricane, has claimed the lives of six people in Cancun, a popular holiday resort on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Trees were ripped from the ground, all power lines were down and waves crashed into the lower floors of luxury hotels.

Ms Bratt and Mr Steels, from Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, had taken shelter from the hurricane in the bunker at the Moon Palace Hotel. They were waiting to find out whether their wedding would still go ahead.

The holiday company which took them to Mexico has said it will be Tuesday before relief planes will reach there and fly them home.

Ms Bratt's mother and father, Pauline and Barry, who would have been among 40 guests at the wedding, are still in the North-East and have had their flight cancelled.

Mrs Bratt said: "Lynn says she is all right but the hotel has been left in ruins by the hurricane."

Her daughter managed to telephone home to report that she and her fiance were fine and being looked after by hotel staff.

Mr Bratt said: "She said the reps were doing all they could, but it is my son everybody is worried about.

"More and more people are coming into the school where he is and there is no food.

"My son and the group he is with also only have one mobile phone between them, and with no power, they are having to use it very frugally."

He and his wife are looking after Vinnie, the four-year-old son of their daughter and Mr Steels.

In the Cancun region, staff from the British embassy were visiting shelters to offer assistance to Britons.

An emergency team of medics was on standby in London and the British Ambassador to Mexico, Giles Paxman, made his way from Mexico City to Cancun.

Although its impact has weakened, the storm is expected to deliver a "quick, hard punch" to Florida, moving quickly overland within 24 hours.

Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Centre, said storm surges of up to 13ft were expected.

"We are particularly concerned for the Florida Keys and are asking everyone to prepare for a category three," he said.