Fort Lauderdale flooding traps people at airport as dozens of flights cancelled, roads closed

Dozens of flights were canceled Wednesday at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after torrential rain and street flooding brought parts of South Florida to a halt.

The relentless rain and windy conditions prompted the airport, second largest in the region, to suspend arriving and departing flights, the airport alerted via Twitter around 4:15 p.m.

On Wednesday night, the main roadways entering and exiting the airport were still flooded and congested with traffic while flights remained on pause.

A flash flood emergency is in effect for areas near Fort Lauderdale, Sunrise and Lauderhill until 2 a.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. And a site just east of the airport received more than 20 inches of rain in six hours Wednesday evening.

“Please do not attempt to enter or leave the airport at this time,” the airport warned.

Vanessa Grissinger, 40, who lives in Key West, told the Miami Herald she was dropping off her parents at the airport around 5:15 p.m. when they received a text message saying their flight had been postponed until Thursday. It wasn’t until around 9 p.m. that they were able to leave the airport after being stuck in traffic for four hours. Her parents are staying with a family member near the airport until tomorrow.

“It is just a sea of red lights,” she said.

Joshua Smith, 51, of California, told the Miami Herald he arrived with his wife at the airport around 1 p.m. after visiting family in Miami. Nine hours later, at 10 p.m., they were waiting for the flooding to subside so a family member could pick them up after their flight was canceled.

“Everything is flooded out there,” he said.

Airport operations will restart once the weather improves in the Fort Lauderdale area.

“Once the weather conditions improve our airport operations staff will conduct a safety assessment of all impacted areas to determine when it’s safe to resume normal operations,” Arlene Satchell, a spokeswoman of the Broward County Aviation Department, told the Herald.

At around 4:15 p.m., the airport announced it was suspending all flights due to extreme weather. Minutes later, it said that ground transportation shuttle service was shut down in response to recurring tornado warnings and ongoing heavy rainfall. Shortly after, it noted that the roads leading to and from the airport were swamped and impassable.

Miami International Airport hadn’t announced mass flight suspensions as of Wednesday night.