Massachusetts college student struggles to get home ahead of Hurricane Milton

TEWKSBURY - Hurricanes Helene and Milton are causing local college students studying in Florida to evacuate back home, many to Massachusetts. Meanwhile, travelers scrambled at Logan Airport for last-minute flights, either heading to New England to escape Hurricane Milton or trying to get back home to Florida.

Maximus Mattuchio spent his Tuesday afternoon passing a football with a friend on his Tewksbury lawn. Just 24 hours earlier, he was hitching a ride to Orlando, trying to outrun Hurricane Milton as it barrels towards the Florida coast.

Hurricane Milton, which strengthened into a powerful Category 5 storm Tuesday is set to hit the west coast of Florida early Thursday morning.

For Mattuchio, a sophomore at the University of Tampa, this is his second evacuation from Florida in weeks. The first was for Hurricane Helene . Mattuchio said he returned to Tampa to find flooding damage.

"Everybody had their lifelong belongings in their front yard , which is something I know Florida is really prioritizing right now," he said.

When news of Milton and its Category 5 path toward Tampa broke, Mattuchio said he took it even more seriously. He scrambled for a flight out of Tampa but found that the prices were sky-high.

"Every time I tried to book a flight, it would disappear or, you know, I was looking at airports, and he doesn't have a car," his mom, Amanda Mattuchio said, "It's just absolute terror of just 'I need to get my baby home.'"

Mattuchio finally drove overnight to Orlando and spent 12 hours waiting for his flight home, sleeping on the airport floor. He says he hopes the city and university he loves will stay strong until he returns.

In the meantime, some are heading south - including the 59 workers from the Northeast Public Power Association and personnel from FEMA Region 1, which normally supports New England.

"Whoever is staying, I just pray for them and I hope the best for them," Mattuchio said.