A 75-year-old woman has been evicted from the Miami apartment where she has lived for 28 years – just as other residents are boarding up homes ahead of Hurricane Dorian.

Maria Cazanes had her belongings tossed from her second-floor condo in the US city after her landlord claimed she was violating rules by keeping cats.

Police, who were there to serve the eviction notice, are understood to have watched on as the landlord's associates threw her belongings from the second-floor South Beach flat onto the street below.

The timing of the incident – an old lady effectively being made homeless as the city goes into lockdown – caused disgust across the country when a neighbour posted pictures online of Ms Cazanes’ belongings left in the street.

“The hurricane is coming, and they just threw everything away,” one witness told the Miami New Times newspaper. “She’s a good lady. She never had a problem with anyone. And to take her out like that when a hurricane is coming? This is supposed to be a country of justice and compassion.”

"Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Show all 15 1 /15 "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A road is flooded during the passing of Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Grand Bahama. AP "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Hurricane Dorian's eye taken by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague, from aboard the International Space Station. The station orbits more than 200 miles above the Earth. Hurricane Dorian, which made landfall on the Bahamas as category 5 and now reclassified as category 4, is expected to continue on its projected path towards the Florida coast. Nasa/EPA "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Buildings damaged by Hurricane Dorian are swept by deep floodwater in the Abaco Islands in The Bahamas. Latrae Rahming "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Tropical Storm Dorian as it approached the Bahamas. NOAA/AFP/Getty "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Strong winds blow the tops of trees while whisking up water from the surface of a canal that leads to the sea in Freeport, Grand Bahama AP "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A woman walks in a flooded street after the effects of Hurricane Dorian arrived in Nassau, Bahamas. REUTERS "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Uprooted trees, fallen power lines and debris scatter a road as Hurricane Dorian sweeps through Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas Ramond A King via Reuters "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Buildings damaged by Hurricane Dorian are swept by deep floodwater in the Abaco Islands in The Bahamas Latrae Rahming "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A building is strewn with debris after its roof was torn off by Hurricane Dorian in the Abaco Islands in The Bahamas Latrae Rahming "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Uprooted trees, fallen power lines and debris scatter a road as Hurricane Dorian sweeps through Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas Ramond A King via Reuters "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Hurricane Dorian is pictured from a plane flying inside the eye of the storm Garrett Black/US Air Force "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Inmates from a Florida jail fill sandbags to hand out to residents ahead of Hurricane Dorian in Cocoa, Florida on September 1 EPA "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Residents stock up at Wal-Mart in preparation for Hurricane Dorian in Orlando, Florida Getty "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures A shop is boarded-up ahead of Hurricane Dorian in Cocoa, Florida on September 1 Reuters "Huge damage" as record Hurricane Dorian hits Bahamas: In pictures Waves batter a pier in Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas on September 1e Mark Hall vie Reuters

Ms Cazanes, along with her 81-year-old brother and disabled son, are currently staying at a local Salvation Army following the incident on Friday evening.

But, after the national outcry, authorities now say they will stop eviction notices being served in times of crisis.

Mayor Carlos Giménez of Miami-Dade County said that police will no longer be allowed to serve such papers during storm emergencies

“The Miami-Dade Police Department will not be evicting anybody during a time of emergency,” he said. “We’re going to be stopping that.”

Hurricane Dorian is currently tearing through the Bahamas, where latest reports suggest at least five people have been killed and 13,000 properties damaged or destroyed.

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