Around 30,000 residents and visitors were ordered to evacuate a US island today as Hurricane Earl approached.

A powerful Hurricane Earl threatened to lash much of America’s East Coast, forcing Labour Day holidaymakers to rethink spending the traditional last week of summer at the beach.

Hurricane Earl battered tiny islands across the north-eastern Caribbean with heavy rain and roof-ripping winds as it rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm and threatening the US.