What to do if you planned to fly to Florida before Hurricane Milton?

ARLINGTON, Va. ( DC News Now ) — Hurricane Milton’s impact is extending to the D.C. region, where flights to and from Florida are being canceled because of the storm.

According to FlightAware, nearly 150 flights were canceled as of 7 p.m. Wednesday from the region’s three airports — many of them going to or coming from Florida.

The Tampa and Orlando airports were closed throughout the day; the West Palm Beach airport shut down at 9 p.m.

“We just kind of scrambled and figured we would leave early before the airport started shutting down,” said Chet Gowda, who is visiting her son in D.C. and was with her family on one of the last flights out of West Palm Beach.

She described the airport as “eerily quiet.”

“I don’t know if it’s because the snowbirds haven’t come down yet or people have already gotten out the town,” she said.

It’s unclear how long the airports will be shut down, but USA Today Consumer Travel Reporter, Zach Wichter, said it was a preemptive measure.

He told DC News Now one of the goals of the early cancellations was to protect the planes to — potentially — speed up the reopening process. He said the timeline is unclear and could be extended if Milton causes damage to the terminals or runways.

Wichter said flyers are “automatically entitled to a refund if you choose not to travel even if you bought a non-refundable ticket.”

If your flight has been delayed due to the storms, you are encouraged to visit the U.S. Department of Transportation Air Consumer website .

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