As her neighbours frantically boarded up their homes and fled southern Florida, Lee Liebman broke out the sherry and defrosted the salmon.

The retired hotelier, who moved to the storm-hit area from Brighton, knew Hurricane Frances could do a lot of damage but insisted she had seen worse.

She told a neighbour: "If the hurricane gets really bad we'll come out here in the hall and I'll bring sandwiches."

Mrs Liebman, who will not divulge her age but is believed to be in her 80s, refused to heed evacuation orders. As the storm raged on Friday afternoon, she and her friends Hector and Iraida Fries sipped sherry, discussing the weather.

She told The Argus: "A lot of people evacuate and go into shelters. I don't. I stay here and make sandwiches for everyone and my door is open for whoever wants to come in.

"I am really not frightened because in my life I have always been a fatalist and believed that what will be will be."

At one point, Hurricane Frances left up to five million people without electricity.

Winds of more than 100mph and up to 20in of rain hit many areas.

An estimated 6,000 British tourists were stranded when airports were closed on Friday.

Another 6,000 Britons have been unable to travel to Florida after British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were forced to cancel dozens of flights.

At least 120,000 people were forced to flee their homes and find emergency shelters.

But Mrs Liebman was not impressed by the storm.

Her penthouse apartment in a 17-storey building in Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, has 12ft windows without hurricane shutters, a terrace and sweeping views of the ocean.

She said: "I've been through five hurricanes now and through bombings in England during the war. There's no way I would leave."

Mrs Liebman moved to Brighton from London in the Sixties as her first husband, the jazz guitarist Sam Gellsley, toured Europe.

She ran two successful hotels in Grafton Street, then sold them and opened Lee's of Preston Street, a popular Jewish delicatessen frequented by music hall stars Bud Flanagan and Ches Allen.

When Mrs Liebman and her husband split amicably she sold the shop and went to Jamaica, then moved to Miami in the early Seventies.

There she worked in the tourism industry - in senior positions at the Sheraton Beach Hotel and with travel company Jetsave - and married Vic Liebman, who died six years ago.

She said: "I miss England and come home every year to visit my family in Edgware. I go to Brighton, but it has changed since I lived there.

"I love the West Pier and it hurts me when I hear about it disappearing."

In the 32 years Mrs Liebman has lived in Miami she has ridden out Hurricanes Andrew, Irene and a few storms whose names she has forgotten.

She sits out the hurricanes in a walk-in wardrobe, reading magazines or writing poetry.

There she is joined by other residents of Sunny Isles Beach who join her in defying evacuation orders.

Sunny Isles Beach police chief Fred Maas said: "We do all the presentations and tell them why they need to go but we can't make them leave."

Experts say Hurricane Ivan, a powerful category four storm, is now heading straight for Florida and could arrive by the weekend.