Flights on Thursday were still departing for parts of Florida from Connecticut as Hurricane Helene approached the Gulf Coast.
“We did get out yesterday,” said Kim Impelluso, who is from Old Saybrook but currently in Naples. “I do have a couple of friends that were supposed to fly to Naples today and their flights were canceled, so I’m glad we made it down.”
Others leaving just one day later weren’t as lucky. A Bradley Airport spokesperson said at least five flights headed to Tampa and Fort Myers were canceled by late Thursday morning.
“We been keeping an eye on it, and we have relatives down there so we’re just checking in on them,” said Kate Nichols. The Salisbury resident is traveling to West Palm Beach, which is on the east coast of Florida and less impacted by the storm.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
Maria Cristofaro, of Avon, is also headed to West Palm Beach, but says she was alert when she initially found out about the storm.
“I was like 'oh no don’t tell me there’s going to be awful weather down there. I’d rather stay at home,'” Cristofaro said. “They haven’t canceled us, and it looks like it’s going more to the west, so I think we’ll be fine.”
The eye of the storm is set to hit near Tallahassee on Thursday evening. According to 2023 data from Florida State University (FSU), the college has over 100 students from Connecticut enrolled in the school.
FSU has issued a shelter-in-place order for students remaining on campus and says its staff has assisted students in moving to the designated shelter area.
“I do feel like colleges are very prepared for this type of thing,” said Kim Impelluso who has two kids at Florida Atlanta University in Boca Raton. Her children aren’t highly impacted by this storm, but she’s dealt with a similar situation when Hurricane Ian hit in the same area as her son’s former school.
Certain areas along the west coast of Florida are expecting up to 20 feet of storm surge. Andrew Pirie, of Tarpon Springs, says he lucked out on his travel plans and happens to be up north during the storm but is thinking about his house.
“It’s in the path of a 12- foot storm surge right now and our friends are watching out for the house,” he said at Bradley International Airport. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get hit with a lot of winds, just water, so we may flood.”
