Salisbury FC manager Nick Holmes.SALISBURY City FC's manager Nick Holmes has terrifying first-hand experience of the destructive force of Hurricane Charley, which has wreaked havoc in Florida, leaving thousands homeless and causing damage running into billions of dollars. The FA Cup winner, who is reluctantly missing the start of the football season while he attends to his property business in the Sunshine State, had no choice but to watch helplessly as the hurricane lashed at the apartments he lets to holidaymakers and sit tight while his own home was buffetted by winds at speeds upwards of 105mph.

He said: "The radio and TV were putting out warnings just to get in your house and stay there.

"We were lucky.

"It was only porch screens that went and most of the damage was caused by leaves and trees falling."

But close associates of the former Southampton FC player were not so fortunate.

A fierce gust ripped the roof off his secretary's house and carried it away, leaving all her belongings at the mercy of the elements.

The manager, who is keeping close tabs on City's fortunes from across the Atlantic, had settled down with his ear to the telephone to receive a running commentary on the opening match of the season, when the storm hit. He said: "It was half-an-hour into the game when I got the call from my poor secretary, distraught because she had just lost her home. I raced down there through all the debris to see if I could help.

"The roof flew off and everything else was left to the wind and the rain.

"There was very little anyone could do except try and console her."

The damage to his holiday apartments compounds the business complications that had detained him in Florida and looks likely to delay further the manager's return to the Old Sarum club.

He said: "Twenty of the properties I look after are without electricity and aren't fit for holidaymakers to stay in, but all the hotels are full up, so what can you do?

"We are just mopping up now."

He added: "It was an experience I certainly wouldn't want to go through again.

"Let's just say it was one of those days that puts life into a different perspective."