Irma evacuees head home, travel south on I-95

The Montes family crammed into a small SUV last week and fled Florida for Virginia.

"It's been stressful," Kristen Montes said. "Worried about our family, getting them out on the road, getting to a place that is safe enough."

The ride home was also stressful, as thousands of evacuees head back to Florida.

Traffic on I-95 was back to back and moving at an extremely slow pace through North Carolina.

The Mangin family made a last minute decision to evacuate Miami Thursday night.

"We have no regrets. It's better to be safe than sorry," Amiti Mangin said. "It was very tiring and very expensive going from hotel to hotel."

The trip was even more tedious for Melissa Langlois, who lives in Jacksonville. She has been sleeping in her car with her dog in parking lots since last week.

"I didn't sleep that much because you never know what could happen," she said.

The southbound travelers said they are happy to be going home, as long as home is still intact. They hope there will not be too much damage and that the power will be back on.

Crews from North Carolina are helping to restore power, and four American Red Cross Emergency response vehicles left North Carolina today to help victims of Irma down south.