Hurricane Erin disrupts Southern New Englanders’ journey plans

Hurricane Erin is leaving its mark on New England households vacationing within the Caribbean, disrupting flights and knocking out energy because the storm churns north.

The Category 4 storm, which intensified Sunday night time with sustained winds of 130 m.p.h., battered Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and surrounding areas with heavy rain, highly effective wind and harmful surf. At one level, about 14,000 prospects on St. Thomas misplaced energy.

Among these affected are households from Southern New England who had traveled to the Virgin Islands for summer time getaways.

Amanda Parejo of Warwick, Rhode Island, was in St. Thomas together with her husband and youngsters for a birthday journey when Erin pressured their plans to unravel.

“Oh my gosh, the wind was so strong,” Parejo mentioned. “We were in a flood zone so we had to be worried about that, and then rain — it was like six inches in the matter of just a few hours.”

She mentioned the uncertainty of being removed from handmade the expertise overwhelming.

“It was terrifying because number one, we’re not at home. If we lost power, we had no way to really manage that,” Parejo mentioned. “We got a lot of emergency warnings for landslides and flooding.”

When their return flight was canceled, Parejo mentioned her household confronted 1000’s of {dollars} in further bills and a five-hour layover in Fort Lauderdale.

“Traveling is stressful period. So when you add this on top of it, it’s a whole ‘nother level of craziness,” she mentioned. “Everybody was like just get me out of here, because we know there’s another storm coming.”

Sarah Risotti of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, took a distinct method — arriving early together with her son, Noah, to beat the storm.

“Saturday, I mean, it kind of felt like one of our Nor’easters,” she mentioned. “Some heavy winds, a lot of howling, and heavy rains. So yeah, it felt like a storm back home.”

Risotti mentioned they misplaced energy for about 14 hours, however her resort’s backup mills helped preserve them comfy.

“It was an experience, you know all about giving my kiddo those experiences and hey, we experienced this, we were safe. I never felt in danger at all,” she mentioned.

Both households shared images and movies with NBC 10 of palm bushes bending within the wind and rain lashing the resorts.

Risotti mentioned she tried to remain constructive. “We kind of just went with it, you know, you go with the flow. We prepared as much as we could.”

Hurricane Erin is forecast to stay a big and harmful storm by the center of the week because it tracks north between the U.S. and Bermuda. Officials are warning of life-threatening surf and rip currents alongside the East Coast.