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Passengers from Florida arrive in Boston ahead of Hurricane Milton "there is a lot of tension"

Florida residents evacuate, head inland as Hurricane Milton approaches
Florida residents evacuate, head inland as Hurricane Milton approaches 02:16

BOSTON - It was a make-or-break day for thousands of people looking to get out of Hurricane Milton's way. The storm is barreling toward Florida with airports there already shuttering ahead of the storm.   

Ty and Karen Hall have lived in Florida on and off for decades and have lived in Boston and along the South Shore. The husband and wife were in the middle of cleaning up after Hurricane Helene when they shifted gears to prepare for Milton. 

Preparing for Milton

"We have been in full on clean up mode not only in our home, but in our business," said Ty Hall. "We sort of stopped the process of cleanup and moved into the process of preparing."

The couple and most of their family packed up and headed east to Orlando where they are hoping to avoid the storm surge. The usual two-hour drive took more than eight hours Tuesday as millions hit the roads to get away from the Gulf Coast. "Traffic was insane," said Karen Hall. "By the time we hit Orlando most of the stations were completely out of gas. It was definitely a nerve-racking trip."

Last flights from Orlando

While the Halls stayed in Florida others could not get out fast enough. At Boston's Logan Airport thousands of passengers took some of the last flights from Orlando.

That city's airport is set to close Wednesday morning. Tampa's airport closed earlier on Tuesday.

"We were able to get out on this flight, thank you God," said JetBlue passenger Jane Woodman Noble. "We were there three hours early to make sure we could get on the plane. There is a lot of tension at TSA right now to get everyone evacuated."

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