The damage from what was Hurricane Sandy has triggered flight cancellations all over the country including more than 100 in the Bay Area.
More than 6,000 flights were canceled nationwide because of the storms battering parts of the East Coast, where at least 20 deaths have been attributed to the storms in the New York area.
A total of 114 of those flights in and out of San Francisco International Airport were canceled on Tuesday. In Los Angeles, 200 flights were canceled.
"Hell. No other words - hell," said Sonny Shar, who was stuck at SFO on Tuesday morning trying to get back home to New York. "I have a wife at home. She's fine, we're not in a flood area. But of course, she's anxious, as well. She knows I'm trying to get home."
Marty Badagliacca was also at SFO, anxiously trying to get home to Massapequa, NY. His neighborhood, on the south shore of the island, is "all devastated" with gas leaks and flooding "all over the place."
"I don't know what to expect when I get back," he said. "I know my house will be underwater and my son's house will be underwater. We just hope for the best."
Badagliacca was busy trying to reroute home to New York through Los Angeles, but didn't know if his last-minute negotiations with the airlines would work.
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SFO spokesman Doug Yakel of that number 64 arriving flights and 50 departing flights are canceled. He said he expected those numbers to rise throughout the day, though he thought Boston and Washington, D.C.-area airports may open later in the day. He also said he thought that airlines are now considering adding red-eye flights to accommodate passengers, though there was no firm answer on that early on Tuesday.
The uncertainly was disappointing to Kathy Lutes of San Diego, also stuck at SFO. She had to sleep at the airport because of fog, not hurricanes, and there were no flights out in the morning to get her home.
"I live in San Diego," Lutes said. "It's like the best weather in the whose U.S. right? So, unaffected by Sandy and fogged in - I think that's kind of crazy."
Erika Okano contributed to this report.
