THE family of a Newport man living on the devastated Cayman Islands spoke of their relief last night after he made contact following 48 hours of silence.

The family of Graham Day say they were worried sick after being unable to contact the 56-year-old from Monday morning when he phoned to say he was fine after Hurricane Ivan devastated the Caribbean islands at the weekend.

His daughter, Tracey Watkins, finally got through to him last night.

Mr Day said he was prevented from ringing his family by authorities on the island keen to prevent news of the natural disaster from being leaked.

On Saturday morning Ivan devastated the Cayman Islands, flooding homes and causing structural damage to virtually every building. People living there said apartment blocks were being reduced to rubble and there were reports of looting.

Mr Day, a father-of-four, has lived in the Caribbean financial hub for seven years working as a manager for McAlpine's construction firm. His home flooded hours after the hurricane struck and he had to take refuge in sheltered accommodation.

Mrs Watkins, from Pilton Vale, Malpas, said: "I thought he would have been OK because I spoken to him after the hurricane had struck, but you never really know what might happen in the aftermath with buildings possibly collapsing.

"When I got through to him he said was unable to ring because they were not allowing calls in or out as they didn't want any news getting out.

"He was also very angry that the island did not agree to having Canadian troops sent there because there is a lot of looting going on."

Mrs Watkins added: "He said the conditions on the island are awful. "In the shelter where he is staying they have food and water for the next few days but after he doesn't know what is going to happen because no new provisions are being sent for."

The Cayman Islands, home to 43,000 people, has had no mains electricity or water supplies since Ivan hit and communications have also been badly affected with most landlines cut off and little mobile phone coverage.

The Caymans is a semi-independent overseas territory of the UK made up of three small islands and is a major financial centre which boasts more companies than people.