COWLEY-BASED charity Oxfam has staff in place ready to respond to Hurricane Irma.

The category five hurricane was heading yesterday for the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

Oxfam said on Twitter that it was ‘ready to respond’ in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba as Hurricane Irma moved west.

British tourists have been flown out of Antigua and St Lucia as the hurricane is expected to destroy wooden houses and cause normal tides to surge.

Families are stocking up on food and water.

Visit oxfam.org.uk