COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The severe weather across the Brazos Valley has created some difficulties for many travelers either coming home or leaving. However, that didn’t stop people from taking car trips or taking flights.

According to AAA, 107 million people are taking a road trip this holiday season. But throughout the day we saw tornado watches, hail and thunderstorms. These are all things that are not ideal for a road trip.

The severe weather we experienced caused delays for hundreds of travelers.

“We have calls for people who have skidded because they were on a wet road. And in wet weather and wet roads, the likelihood of an accident increases. And we also typically see a higher response to accidents,” said Daniel Armbruster, spokesman for AAA Texas.

Experts say if you’re planning a road trip, make sure you drive a well-maintained vehicle, have healthy tires and always have an emergency plan.

But a student trying to get to the other side of the world found himself in a dilemma, and the storm didn’t make it any easier.

“It definitely disrupted our travel,” said Tanay Patankar, a master’s student at Texas A&M.

Patankar is a Texas A&M student pursuing his master’s degree in computer science. All he wanted was to return to India for the New Year.

“We were just waiting for our turn and it turns green. As we set off we receive a low air pressure warning. And we wonder what is happening? We drive off and feel like we have a flat tire. We pull over and the tire is just completely broken,” Patankar explained.

Patankar planned to drive from College Station to Houston to catch a flight to India, but he got a flat tire on the crossing.

“Shit, right. We changed it. Came back here to get a new car, then boom, tornado warning, thunderstorm,” says Patankar.

But Patankar wasn’t the only one to face travel delays.

According to AAA, more than nine million Texans will travel over the holidays and 90 percent will drive.

“Check what the conditions are in advance and plan an alternative route. That’s always a good idea. You may not need to use it, but if you find yourself in a situation where you need to find an alternate route, at least you’ve already planned for that,” Armbruster explained.

For travelers like Patankar, the weather conditions made things more difficult, but he remained optimistic.

“If I didn’t actually do something. I would be, you know, relative. Maybe I would enjoy the rain. But only because so many things happen at the worst possible time,” Patankar said.

AAA says that if you’re planning a road trip, you should make sure you have alternate routes and a game plan.

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