North Texans' Hawaii Vacation Plans In Limbo Due To Hurricane
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - As Hurricane Lane barrels towards Hawaii, the governor has issued a state of emergency.
Residents there are preparing for the worst while some North Texans are rethinking their travel plans.
Zoya Ghamari hopes she'll be able to catch a flight from Dallas to Maui. It's her first vacation in two years.
"You don't want to go when the devastation has hit," Ghamari said.
She was supposed to fly to Hawaii on Sunday. The salon owner already told her clients and made arrangements for her two dogs.
"At this point, I'm still going, but we'll have to see how the damage is," said Ghamari.
Several airlines are issuing travel advisories and waiving change fees for customers flying to or from Hawaii.
"We got contacted by the resort and they said that at this point they're still on a hurricane watch and we have to wait till the last minute," said Ghamari.
The storm's center could make landfall Thursday or Friday. Officials warn it could be life-threatening.
"I'm trying not to get anxious about it," she said.
As she keeps an eye on the weather, Lia Vincent said her husband cancelled their family trip out of concern. They were supposed to fly out Wednesday.
"Even up until the last minute, I was like, well... we could maybe still go. And he's like... come on now," said Vincent.
Vincent owns a travel agency based in Oklahoma, but has agents in North Texas.
"We had a couple of families there last night who were able to fly out on the nonstop from Maui to DFW. They landed this morning. We don't have any clients there this weekend, so that was really good," said Vincent.
Vincent says it's important for people to have traveler's insurance and to contact their travel agent so they can help if plans change.