Repayment is not necessary to avoid the early-distribution penalty. Simply qualifying as a disaster distribution eliminates the penalty. If you don't repay it, it is subject to ordinary income tax even though it is not subject to penalty.
General "hardship" does not qualify the distribution as a disaster distribution. Provided that your main home was in the qualified disaster area for Hurricane Irma, for this distribution to be a qualified disaster distribution you had to have suffered as a result of Hurricane Irma an economic loss due to loss or damage to real or personal property, loss related to displacement from your home, or loss of livelihood due to temporary or permanent layoffs. Perhaps one of these is what you meant by "hardship."
