Fort Lauderdale airport to reopen Friday morning; floods trap travelers for hours

Update:

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will be closed through Thursday and reopen at 5 a.m. Friday, the airport announced.

“This will allow airport staff to work to restore partial operations on one runway, providing current conditions do not worsen,” according to a statement.

Travelers are encouraged to check with the airlines before arriving at the airport.

Original report:

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

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. Wednesday.

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

On Thursday morning, the upper-level “Departures” roadway reopened “to allow airport travelers waiting for family/friends to pick them up to do so,” the airport announced.

The entrance to the lower-level “Arrivals” area remained closed, along with the rest of the airport.

READ MORE: Broward schools closed Thursday after downpour causes severe flooding in South Florida

A flash flood warning is in effect for the Fort Lauderdale area until 4 p.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.

READ MORE: South Florida has seen three days of intense rain and flooding. When will it finally end?

“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 for the Broward County Aviation Department, told the Herald.

READ MORE: Live weather updates: Airport halts flights; flood warnings for Miami-Dade and Broward

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.

READ MORE: Weather alert: Flash flood warnings issued for parts of Miami-Dade and Broward