UK holidaymakers affected as Hurricane Irma heads towards the Caribbean

A shopfront is boarded up on the island of St Kitts. Credit: APTN

Thousands of travellers have had their Caribbean holiday plans thrown into chaos as Hurricane Irma forces airlines to ground or divert flights.

The category five storm is sweeping through the region heading for the US coast and is one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic.

The US's National Hurricane Centre described Irma as "potentially catastrophic".

Irma comes hot on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, which caused devastation and flooding in the states of Texas and Louisiana and left at least 66 people dead.

Puerto Rico, which handles a lot of transfer flights to the Caribbean, has declared a state of emergency, as has Florida.

Antigua airport will be closed on Wednesday and San Juan airport, the busiest in Puerto Rico, has cancelled about 40 per cent of its flights in response to the hurricane.

British Airways sent an empty aircraft to the region to bring customers back early - the full flight of 326 passengers touched down in the UK on Tuesday evening.

It also cancelled a flight from the UK heading to Antigua and then on to Tobago.

BA said in a statement: "The safety of our customers and colleagues is always our priority.

"We are in contact with travellers in the region and laid on a special flight from Antigua today to get as many customers home as possible before the hurricane arrives on the island.

"The Antigua and St Kitts airport authorities have advised us that their airports will be closed tomorrow.

"We have offered all customers due to travel to the Caribbean and Florida in the coming days a range of re-booking options and are keeping our flights to the entire region under review. "

Virgin Atlantic also changed its return schedules, and a flight leaving Antigua on Tuesday left five hours early to avoid the storm.

The airline urged all customers to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport, and offered all those affected by the storm the option to rebook their flights on alternative dates.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office told Britons to follow the advice of the local authorities and any evacuation orders.