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Some Floridians Coming North To Boston Find This Year's Trip Difficult

BOSTON (CBS) -- Dozens of people who were in the path of Hurricane Irma in Florida made it to Logan Airport in Boston Thursday on some of the last flights to leave.

Maria Gonzalez says going to school at Emerson is much more difficult this year with her family in the path of a mega storm.

"It's a horrible feeling. Because of the struggle, I think is going to be the incommunication because of the storm. The power outages. That's going to be the scariest part," Gonzalez said.

Mirko Babic says that some friends turned around because of the confusion on the roads.

"I had a couple of friends that couldn't find a flight, so they decided to drive. They had to turn around and go back, because it's a mess," Babic said.

Jamie Latimer flew in from Fort Lauderdale and said the airports were in a state of chaos.

"There was actually like 200 people waiting that had flights that had gotten cancelled. I mean, it was packed. It was a zoo," Latimer said.

Kristina Wilson, with a townhouse on North Miami Beach, hopes she can use a home camera to monitor her property. She wanted to make it out of harm's way.

"I'm feeling relieved I get to visit family, but I'm wondering what the mess will be like when I get back to clean up," Wilson said.

Many travelers say they connected flights anyway they could like Eleanor Su-Keene of West Palm Beach who flew from Orlando to Dallas Fort-Worth to Boston.  She says a one-way last minute ticket cost her $1100.00.

Logan-Arrivals-from-Irma
Logan arrivals coming from Florida to escape Irma. (WBZ-TV)

"We had to make phone calls to airlines and we were on them for about an hour each looking for flights," Su-Keene said. "My husband is still down there to take care of everything.  But I have a little one so I thought it would be best to be up here."

Gwen Shanda believes she got out of Jupiter just in time finding a ticket Tuesday.

"I'm so relieved but I'm very stressed out about our home, family and friends.  I just want them to be safe," Shanda said.

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Hurricane Irma heavily damages Caribbean. (WBZ-TV)

While Irma is heading to parts of Florida, it's already devastated many Caribbean islands including Barbuda which has essentially been wiped out.  About 2,000 residents have been left homeless.

Boston's Elections Commissioner Dion Irish, with family on neighboring Antigua, hopes to spearhead a local relief effort with a long road ahead.

"We're going to take it one day at a time.  It'll be maybe a few years before Antigua and Barbuda fully recover," Irish said.

Kasten Liburd, now living in Dorchester, says family members on the British Virgin Islands have lost everything.

"Roofs are gone, it's flooded out, they've lost clothing and housing," Liburd said.

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