It wasn’t just New York City commuters who had to deal with flooding Friday morning — even those looking to fly out of the city had to deal with flooding conditions.
LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal A was forced to close down entirely before 11 a.m. after the building itself flooded as a result of the heavy rain. Video from inside the terminal showed passengers, some of whom opted to go barefoot, walking through inches of water just feet away from their gates for airlines such as Frontier and Spirit.
The airport encouraged all passengers scheduled to fly out of there to check and confirm their flight status before heading out there.
The two other terminals at the Queens airport remained open, but many flights faced delays. Flights into LaGuardia were briefly halted, and then delayed, during the morning because of water in the airport’s refueling area.
There had been more than 1,000 cancellations at each of the NYC-area airports by noon, and more than 2,600 delays reported. Port Authority said that while flights were still arriving and departing at the airports, “intermittent ground stops are likely as heavy rain continues.”
Departures from JFK Airport were averaging 15-minute delays, though that was growing into the afternoon. Newark Airport wasn’t seeing any significant impacts as a result of the rain.
The FAA makes the decision whether to implement ground stops if needed.
While shocking, the flooding at the airport was nothing compared to what some streets in the NYC area had seen throughout the morning. Some of the roadways near the airport stood to be impacted as well, and Port Authority encouraged travelers to leave ample time to get to the airport before their flight.
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