A tidal wave dumped this boat on a damaged road near Jensen beach

While services to Orlando will remain grounded, routes to Miami and Tampa are expected to re-open.

Virgin Atlantic said it had managed to run two flights from Heathrow to Miami on Sunday and hoped to do the same on Monday to help clear the backlog.

Airport closures have left around 6,000 Britons stranded in the US.

Another 6,000 people have been unable to travel from the UK to Florida.

BA had axed 12 flights in three days, with six being cancelled on Sunday.

Virgin Atlantic cancelled 28 flights over the weekend.

British tourists are in the dark as all the tour companies have been really poor at keeping people informed Chris Payne Weblog of Britons in Florida

Hurricane Frances hammered Florida's east coast on Sunday, bringing 100 mph winds and torrential rain.

Two people were reportedly killed in the US, taking the death toll to four after the hurricane earlier claimed two lives in the Bahamas.

Power lines were torn down, leaving millions without electricity, and houses have been damaged and trees uprooted.

British ex-pat George Robertson-Burnett emigrated to the town of Bartow in Florida at the beginning of July and is experiencing his second hurricane in three weeks.

'Act of God'

On Sunday evening he told BBC News Online the emergency services were already "swinging into action" and power and telephones being restored.

"Trees are still whipping at their tops but the worst is well past," he said, in an e-mail.

But he later added the calm had given way to heavy gusts of wind and sustained rain.

UK tourist Chris Payne said information was still not forthcoming on flights home.

UK AIRLINE HELPLINES Thomas Cook: 0870 010 1806 Virgin: 08705 747747 British Airways : 08708 509850 MyTravel Airways: 01706 909050

He said there were cars now on the streets despite the curfew still being in place.

"Most of the kids in the hotel are going stir crazy after the second day locked inside," he said.

"Nobody seems to know when the airport will re-open and the British tourists who are here are completely in the dark as all the tour companies have been really poor at keeping people informed," he added.

A BA spokesman said it is expected two return flights to Miami from Heathrow will run on Monday.

But he advised passengers to check the British Airways website before leaving for the airport.

A return flight to Tampa, which was postponed on Sunday, is expected to leave Gatwick.

But it is thought that a return flight to Orlando from Gatwick will remain grounded.

Families wade through the floodwaters at West Palm Beach

BA passengers stranded in Florida had been told that they could fly to the UK at no extra cost if they could reach another major eastern US airport

But the airline has not paid to put people up in accommodation until services resume as the hurricane is "an act of God" and not a fault of BA.

However, many passengers will be able to reclaim expenses on their travel insurance and some were moved on to earlier flights before airports closed.

Coronation Street star Bradley Walsh, who was one of those stranded in Florida, was said to be making his way to New York in a bid to catch a flight home to enable him to attend a TV awards ceremony on Monday night.

On Saturday 2.5 million Florida residents were told to leave their homes as the second major storm in less than a month approached.

In August, Hurricane Charley ravaged Florida, killing at least 26 people and causing billions of dollars of damage.