 Exhausted teen trying to escape a hurricane fell asleep on a train. When she woke up, she realized the nightmare had just begun. In 2017, US meteorologist saw the strongest hurricane ever forming over the Atlantic Ocean. When the announcement was made that the powerful storm was about to hit land, everyone had no choice but to flee from its path. The swirling winds made their way to Florida, devastating everything in their path. The high speed winds and heavy rains were more than enough to warrant a total evacuation of the area. But while most people had successfully fled to other cities for safety, one woman was led stranded in the last place she expected to be. The hurricane was named Irma, but with a terrifying wind speed of 185 mph, it should have been named something more threatening. Meteorologists had warned Florida residents that it was one of the strongest hurricanes to ever exist in the open Atlantic region. With this kind of weather forecast, it didn't take long for the people to decide to leave. Whipping through the Caribbean and hurling straight towards Florida, Rick Scott, the governor of the Sunshine State, had to act immediately. He ordered every resident to evacuate before the intense storm struck land. Among the 6.5 million residents of Florida who were deeply alarmed by the weather forecast was Claire Connolly, a nursing student at Florida Gulf Coast University. She was originally from New Jersey, a trip that was over 14 hours by car. When she got news of the storm, she didn't know what to do. According to the expert, Hurricane Irma was heading straight toward South Florida with signs of slowing or changing course. The governor didn't want to take any chances, which meant that the emergency evacuation was required for all Southern Florida residents. Claire Connolly had no choice but to go back home to New Jersey. How would she get there on such short notice? While the storm experts had a general idea of how robust Hurricane Irma would be, they were taken by surprise when they saw the wrath of the storm when it reached the island of Barbuda. For 38 hours, the powerful hurricane whipped the small island, leaving it almost completely decimated. The damage it inflicted the island of Barbuda was the worst that it happened since the last monster hurricane hit the island over three centuries ago. Seeing the hurricane's effects upon making landfall, the terrified Florida residents hurriedly picked up their things and prepared for evacuation. Despite the majority of Floridians following the government's precautions, the state's governor wanted to ensure that no one would get left behind. The terrible destruction in Barbuda served as a harsh warning, however. There were still hard-headed individuals who wanted to stay despite the imminent danger. Claire Connolly thought about it, but she ultimately didn't want to be one of them. That same day, Governor Rick Scott sent teams of disaster volunteers to each and every county to ensure that the evacuation plan was enforced. The government of the Sunshine State wanted zero casualties from this unavoidable storm. The governor even issued an order requiring every resident to leave the Florida Keys as soon as possible. For most residents, Hurricane Irma was not too much more than a headache. Evacuation was always easier said than done. It usually meant sitting in traffic for hours while everyone tried to get out at the same time, only to come back days later and see that it wasn't even necessary in the first place. But instead of feeling bad about the inconvenience of the situation, Connolly decided to look on the bright side. Since she had traveled south to get a nursing degree in Florida, she rarely saw her family in the north. Although it only takes about two hours by plane to get home to New Jersey, her busy schedule at the university and the cost of plane tickets prohibited Claire from coming back as often as she wanted. Connolly had mixed emotions as she prepared to leave her college dorm in Florida. She was excited to get home, but quite reluctant as a journey by land was awfully long and exhausting, not to mention expensive. First she had to drive to Jacksonville, Florida, which would take six hours. Then she had to take a plane ride from Jacksonville to Detroit, Michigan. What made the situation even worse was the price of the last-minute ticket at the airport. It was almost $1,000 because of the demand to get out of Florida before the storm hit. But still, she bought it because she felt like she was left with no other choice. After landing in Detroit, Claire was still far away from her home state. She would need to take another plane ride from Detroit to Newark, New Jersey. The exhausted student had to wait in the airport for two hours before she could catch a flight home. From Newark, Claire had one last leg of her journey. Her parents' house was located in a town called Highlands, which was another hour by train from the airport. She was finally on the last segment of her long trip home and she was feeling extremely exhausted from all the travel. Being just an hour away from her home sweet home, Connolly couldn't help but picture the comfort that only her child at home could provide. Perhaps it was the reason why she wasn't aware that she was paying close attention when she boarded the train. Connolly was headed to Highlands and she needed to get off the Middletown station. Her ticket bore the name of her destination, however the employee who checked her ticket failed to notice that something was horribly wrong. If Claire had boarded the right train and got off successfully at the Middletown stop like she planned, she would only be a 15-minute car ride away from her house. Her parents would happily pick her up from the station and bring her home. Still unaware that something was off, Claire walked around the train hoping to find a spot to get some rest. She found a seat and settled in. Her eyelids getting heavier with each moment, the train left the station and before long Claire was fast asleep. The last thing that Claire remembered was she was going over her biology note cards. She was a good student and liked to use travel time to study. They hadn't helped her relax and kill time during the journey home. Since her attention was focused on her notes, she didn't notice the unfamiliar terrain outside the window of the train. Nor did she hear the announcement of where the train was headed. Instead, her laser-like focus was centered on her studies. Claire was so tired from the hours of driving and wading and flying that she drifted off to sleep with her flashcards in hand. While Claire was peacefully snoozing on her seat, the train was fast heading to a town called Raritan. It was a small borough of New Jersey that was a couple hours in the opposite direction from Highlands, where Claire's family lived. She hadn't realized that she stepped down the wrong train and was now headed far away from her home. Each second that she slept, she got further and further away from her destination. When she woke up, it took her a moment to get back to her surroundings. Still feeling a bit dizzy from sleep, Connolly painfully realized that the train was already on its final stop. She wondered why no one notified her that they had already made it to Middletown, but after a few seconds, the full realization of what happened had dawned on her and she was stricken with panic. Claire looked around frantically but found no one in sight. The train was not moving and she was the only passenger in the cabin. When she looked outside, she noticed that these surroundings looked like an empty rail yard, not a train station. As quick as the truth had dawned on her, Claire frantically searched for her phone. She had been left alone inside the train and the doors were locked. She had no clue how someone could have left her on the train. How could no one notice that she was there? All that mattered to her in that moment was her ability to find help. Claire was unsure of where she was. When she looked at her phone, her fear doubled. She had only 5% battery left on her cell phone. She had to make a quick call to the police or else she'd spend the night inside the deserted train. She was feeling panicked but she knew she had to stay calm or there'd be no way out. She dialed the emergency number and tried to describe her situation to the best of her knowledge. After the call successfully went through, she felt a bit better but she knew she couldn't just sit back. She tried to look for help nearby. Still, trying to reach someone quickly, Connolly took advantage of the remaining battery on her phone to capture a video about what was happening. She said, I literally just fell asleep on my train. I'm on a train. There's no one on. Claire was well aware of the power of social media. She was in a desperate position and the fear was slowly starting to get to her. While she was walking through the empty train searching for signs of life, she kept on screaming for help. Fortunately for the nursing student, the Raritan borough police responded to her emergency call right away. However, instead of feeling pity for the young lady, the police showed little sympathy. They even went as far as to place the blame on her for what happened. According to police, it was all Claire's fault that she was left inside the train in the first place. They told her that it was her responsibility to get on the right train and to get off at her home station and not the staff's job. But what about the train's crew? While the police were not at all sympathetic towards Claire on social media, people reacted otherwise. The young lady had tweeted about what happened to her in hopes of getting help as she was surprised when she received an incredible amount of support from strangers on the internet. Most of them commented that it was the crew's responsibility to check if everyone had gotten off before taking the train to the rail yard and locking it for the night. The job didn't take more than 10 minutes anyway. According to Nancy Snyder, spokeswoman for New Jersey Transit, what happened to Claire that day was a rare occurrence. Moreover, she clarified that it was the responsibility of the train's conductor to double check if all the passengers had been dropped off to their respective stations. The New Jersey Transit had already started conducting an investigation as to why the young nursing student was left stranded on the train. Claire was especially curious to find out why no one on the train had bothered to wake her up. Despite the cold treatment of the Raritan Borough Police Department, Claire still credited them for their efforts rescuing her from the deserted train. She was grateful that they stayed with her while she waited for her parents to come and pick her up as well. Upon seeing her parents, Claire Connolly was filled with instant relief. She was exhausted and all she needed was to go home. Instead of letting the incident go to her, she decided to laugh it off, even considering the experience the icing on the cake after having to evacuate Florida because of Hurricane Irma. Eventually, Claire's classes were resumed soon after the monster hurricane had swept through the Sunshine State. Despite the experience, Claire had managed to spend some quality time relaxing with her family thanks to the police officers and her parents. When the time came for Claire to go back to Southern Florida, Claire felt understandably reluctant to take the train. She was still horrified by the experience and she admitted that it would take her quite some time before she could comfortably ride a train again.