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NYC Airports See Extensive Delays with 1600 U.S. Flights Cancelled Due to Severe Weather
By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
On Sunday, New York City area airports reported extensive delays and flight groundings.
As reported by the NY Post, as rainstorms and flooding continued to pound parts of the Northeast, travelers suffered delays and cancellations. Roughly 1,600 flights were canceled on Sunday across the United States, with a majority of the problems experienced at John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia airports and Newark Liberty International, as per FlightAware. Newark airport took the brunt, with the most flight cancellations of all US airports, cancelling about 30 percent of all its scheduled flights. The New Jersey airport cancelled 365 incoming and outgoing flights on Sunday, and delayed another 461 flights, according to FlightAware data.
Travelers also complained to the Post about problems getting their luggage on Sunday, particularly at Newark. “Stranded #ewr airport, delayed flight 2 hours, in a plane for 5 more. Deplaned at 1230 am. I can’t even get a hotel. The line to rebook next flight almost 1/2 mile long. Now standing in cue for past 1-1/2 hour and it may take another 2. Good job#United”, read a Tweet by Sanjiv Goyal@officialsanjivg, complaining about his fate at Newark Airport.
JFK Airport came in second for the highest number of canceled flights, cancelling a total of 331 outgoing and incoming flights. LaGuardia didn’t fare all that much better– with 280 grounded flights, per the flight tracking data. All three airports were advising all travelers to check their flight status before arriving at the airport due to heavy rain and fog in the metro area.
Much of the greater New York area was pounded with Thunderstorms, severe rain and flash flooding on Sunday. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of Queens and the Bronx Sunday afternoon. Most areas in New York experienced between one and three inches of rain total — with some areas even totaling as much as five inches by nighttime. Following the severe weather, another Air Quality Alert was issued, in effect until midnight on Monday July 17th. The air quality index (AQI) was forecasted by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to be in the unhealthy for sensitive groups category, which is between 101-150.
Only a week earlier, the Empire State had been pounded by deadly torrential downfalls . Last weekend’s storm andsubsequent flooding had claimed one life in Orange County and caused roughly $50 million in damage, as per Gov. Kathy Hochul. Roads and residential areas in Hudson Valley were hit with as much as eight inches of water in some areas within a 24-hour time span. “These are unprecedented weather events that keep hitting us over and over and over again,” Gov. Hochul had said. “We must change our behavior as a planet, as a country, as a state and in our own homes, and we’re going to continue that conversation in earnest because we have to know that we have to do everything in our power to protect our citizens,” she had added.
