‘There’s a relief’: Last flights make it in to Reagan National Airport ahead of Hurricane Helene’s landfall

ARLINGTON, Va. ( DC News Now ) — Not all travelers hoping to make it to the D.C. area on Thursday actually made it here due to the impacts of Helene.

The storm, set to make landfall in Florida late Thursday, already shut down airports in Tampa and Tallahassee.

Flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) from those airports were canceled, but many travelers from Atlanta, which is in Hurricane Helene’s path, arrived safely.

“There’s a relief that I made it out, but I left family behind,” said Kevin Tyler, of Flagler Beach, Fla. “So it’s not the greatest thing. I’m here for work.”

Tyler said he and the other passengers experienced turbulence on their flight from Atlanta.

“Usually, you have a good view when you’re up in the air,” he said. “I saw the clouds the entire way.”

Though many of the travelers on that Atlanta flight already had plans to come to the D.C. area, even before the forecasted storm, their travel did not come free of changes.

“We knew that there was no way we would get out [on our original flight on Friday],” said Carolyn Johnson. “So we called and they had seats on [Thursday’s] flight.”

The hopes among travelers is that family and friends behind in Helene’s path are safe, or make it out safely.

Nadia Bouajila, who lives in D.C., made it to DCA from an overseas flight that connected in Atlanta. Her dad was on a later flight.

“I don’t know how much I should be worried about him,” she said.

Bouajila said she kept in touch with her dad, optimistic his flight would make it.

If your flight was canceled — perhaps due to an airport shutting down — you are entitled to a refund, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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