Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to remain closed until 9 a.m. Friday
FORT LAUDERDALE - Officials said Thursday that Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will be closed until 9 a.m. Friday after extensive flooding flooding rains left several runways underwater, standing thousands of passengers.
The airport had originally said operations would resume around 5 a.m. but that time was pushed back, according to a social media post, that said the delay was need to "determine the airfields' readiness to resume safe flight operations."
The closure led city and airport officials to ask passengers to stay away until the facility was ready.
"Please don't come to the airport right now, please call the airlines. There's no need to come right now. You can see traffic is still coming and going, hoping that they might be able to get on their plane, but that's not going to happen," said Broward Mayor Lamar Fisher. "That goes for domestic and international flights. Please don't come until we are back open again."
"We are not going to open this airport until it's completely safe for our workers and visitors. We have declared a state of emergency," he added.
The mayor said it will be a process to the airport back open again. Planes will need to be positioned as pilots will need to be in place along with airport employees.
"Our hope is that tomorrow morning we'll be back in operation. We hope. We are optimistic but cautious at that time," said Fisher.
The mayor said redoing the runways over the last few years helped mitigate some of the flooding. When asked what happened to force the airport to close, Fisher was blunt.
"Nature. Nature was not kind to us and that's just unfortunate. It was unprecedented. Having a storm like this, 26 inches of water in the airport is unprecedented. We have never had to deal with such an item. We thought we had been able, with the raising of the north (runway) and the redoing of the south (runway) we thought we were there, but again, a one in a thousand (year) storm, we just couldn't predict," Fisher said.
The mayor said other airports have offered to help with equipment, like lighting, if needed. He added that Gov. DeSantis office has reached out along with several politicians from the state to offer the county assistance on a state and federal level.
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The Wednesday washout created chaos at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The flooding was so severe that the airport closed and law enforcement blocked off the entrance. Some travelers, so desperate to catch their flights, got out on the side of the road and climbed up hills with their luggage to make it to the airport.
"First time we came around here, we saw some cars parked on the side, and people just got out and walked through right into the airport. The officer said that they wouldn't let them in if they did that, but I guess some people are taking the chance," said Aaron Blogg who was heading to New York.
"We're trying to get back home, and they're telling us that the airport is closed and so at this point, we don't know what to do," said Ebony Dorsey, who's traveling to Cleveland.
Around 2 a.m. Thursday, airport officials said the upper level (departures) roadway re-opened to all travelers waiting for family or friends to pick them up as traffic exiting the airport was clear. The entrance to the lower level (arrivals) was still closed.
According to the flight tracking company FlightAware, well over 600 flights have been canceled.
