Record Rain, Flooding Shuts Florida's Fort Lauderdale Airport
“Please don’t come hoping to get on an airplane," Broward County Mayor Lamar Fisher said. "We hope to be operating again by Friday. We’re cautious, but optimistic.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A major south Florida airport remained closed to all flights on Thursday following record-breaking rainfall and flooding.
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which first shut down on Wednesday, said it would remain closed until at least 5 a.m. on Friday, the airport tweeted.
"Due to the volume of flooding and debris on FLL’s airfields, the airport will remain closed for flight activity today… This will allow airport staff to work to restore partial operations on one runway, providing current conditions do not worsen,” the airport tweeted. “Travelers should not come to the airport prior to checking with their airlines for updated flight status.”
Following the heavy rains, the airport had initially warned travelers not to enter or leave as the main roadways were “flooded and impassable.” On Thursday, it had reopened the upper-level roadway so travelers could be picked up.
Several airlines issued waivers for people traveling in the Fort Lauderdale area, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, and Southwest Airlines.
Photos of the airport, reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, show the runway looking more like a lake than a runway as planes remained parked nearby.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“Nature has been unkind to us,” Broward County Mayor Lamar Fisher said at an afternoon news conference at the airport, according to the paper. “Please don’t come hoping to get on an airplane… We hope to be operating again by Friday. We’re cautious, but optimistic.”
Broward County, which declared a Local State of Emergency, advised people “to travel on the roadways only if absolutely necessary.”
The rain came fast with upward of 2 feet falling in just a few hours, the Associated Press reported. As of Thursday morning, more than 25 inches of precipitation had been recorded in Fort Lauderdale, according to the National Weather Service Miami.
“There were areas of South Florida that received prolific rainfall amounts yesterday,” the NWS tweeted, “with the highest amounts of over 20 inches in coastal Broward County.”
Beyond the airport, Florida’s high-speed Brightline train said it resumed normal operations on Thursday between south Florida stations.
For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
