Travelers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey return from Florida ahead of Hurricane Helene: "It feels great to be home"
Getting out of the path of the storm is what several people flying into Philadelphia International Airport were doing as Hurricane Helene inches closer to U.S. landfall.
"People's cell phones were just beeping with emergency warnings almost every 10,15 minutes," Steve Abrams said.
Originally from the Delaware Valley, Abrams flew in from Florida for work and to visit family. He prepped his house in Tampa for the storm before leaving.
"Other than that, it's just a hope and a prayer that when you get back the storm didn't knock ya out," Abrams said.
On the same Frontier flight was Sarah Braceland. The mom from Chester County was in the Sunshine State for work, but left early, taking the first flight out Wednesday, after seeing the path of the hurricane.
"It feels great to be home and saying a prayer for everybody in Florida that they're safe and sound," Braceland said.
Alex Phelan flew back north after classes at the University of Tampa were canceled.
"I'm a freshman at UT so it was the first time that we really saw anything like this so far," Phelen said, then continuing: "definitely didn't want to be in the storm and get to see my mom. I haven't seen her since I left in August."
Not everyone is heading out of Florida. Some, like Andrea Webb, are heading for it. Webb, who's from Mercer County, is in Tallahassee with the American Red Cross.
"It's been pretty fast and furious. We have had to onboard our disaster health services folks as they come in and get them dispatched out to the different shelters," Webb said.
Webb is one of several American Red Cross volunteers from the Tri-State area in Florida.
New Jersey Task Force 1 Emergency workers are also departing for North Carolina. Delmarva Power is sending crews to Georgia, including 32 lineworkers.
"I just like helping people out," volunteer Larry Daly from King of Prussia said. "I've been doing this now for seven years, and I go out as often as possible just to make sure that people can get some relief from a disaster."
