Travelers from Orlando arrive at Phoenix Sky Harbor ahead of Hurricane Milton
PHOENIX - The rush to evacuate from Hurricane Milton can be felt here in the Valley as many people arrived from what could be the last flight from Orlando before the storm makes landfall.
A 7:00 p.m. American Airlines flight from Orlando was the only direct flight to land at Sky Harbor from Florida on Tuesday night.
All direct flights from Tampa were canceled.
The Orlando International Airport, an hour east of Tampa, is suspending all of its operations starting 8:00 a.m. on Oct. 9.
Tampa International Airport closed at 9:00 a.m. Oct. 8.
Many of the Valley residents at the airport noticed the rush to leave Florida.
A lot of families tried to get earlier flights out of Orlando but with the approaching storm everything was sold out for the last couple of days.
"We were definitely nervous about it because we knew that the airport was going to be shut down tomorrow," said Amy White, a Valley resident traveling from Florida. "So there was no other options for us."
Jason Wolfe, a Valley resident traveling from Florida said, "most of the flights were full and there's only two direct flights from MCO (Airport) every day to Phoenix, so all the prior days were full."
Many of the people returning to Arizona were staying at Disney resorts as they were leaving.
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"It was just like nerve wracking because a lot of the roads were really full too," said Brittany Struening, a Valley resident traveling from Florida.
"It felt kind of rough because there are a lot of people trying to get out and I don't know if there's anybody that didn't get flights that didn't get out. So, you know, you got to kind of feel for the people," she said.
The strength of the storm kept growing throughout the week, causing Struening to make back up plans just in case.
"We were thinking, what are we going to do? We can't get stuck here. So we got a rental car just to have in case our flight got canceled, we could drive up to Atlanta.," she said.
Valley residents are grateful that the last flight was not canceled but their hearts with those still in Florida.
Many boards at Sky Harbor showed all the canceled flights unable to leave Tampa today.
Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on Wednesday afternoon.