In This Article:
(Bloomberg) -- A powerful winter storm sweeping the US South has grounded more than 3,000 flights, halted passenger trains and threatening the region with heavy snowfall.
Most Read from Bloomberg
-
NYC Condo Owners May Bear Costs of Landmark Green Building Law
-
Ambitious High-Speed Rail Plans Advance in the Baltic Region
-
NYC’s Subway Violence Deters Drive to Bring Workers Back to Office
As of 1:46 p.m. New York time, 3,036 flights around the US were canceled, with Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and nearby Charlotte-Douglas airport accounting for more than half of them, according to FlightAware. In addition, Dallas area airports that were hard hit on Thursday saw hundreds more flights scrubbed on Friday.
A ground stop on planes scheduled to land in Atlanta was lifted although arrivals will be tightly controlled until at least 9:59 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. A so-called ground delay also was implemented at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Friday.
“Flying into any of the airports in this region wouldn’t be ideal today,” said Allison Santorelli, a forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center.
The winter storm rolled out of the Gulf of Mexico and has brought a wide area of up to 9 inches (23 centimeters) of snow across the Texas Panhandle, eastern Oklahoma and central Arkansas since Thursday, Santorelli said. It will keep piling up snow through Tennessee and into the southern Appalachian Mountains, while coating central Georgia, including Atlanta, with ice.
The system also sparked power outages with 76,000 customers without electricity from Texas to Georgia, according to PowerOutage.us.
Delta Air Lines Inc. canceled 500 flights after all five runways at its Atlanta hub were shut to allow crews to clear ice and snow.
“Inclement weather began earlier and with heavier intensity than forecast, which reduced deicing capability and slowed operations,” Delta said in a statement. Additional cancellations are possible through the weekend.
In addition to delays in air traffic, federally-funded passenger-rail carrier Amtrak has canceled several trains across Texas and the South, including the iconic City of New Orleans and Texas Flyer. Atlanta’s MARTA will operate buses and trains on a weekend schedule and will halt streetcar service, the agency’s website said.
--With assistance from Mary Schlangenstein.
(Updates flight restrictions in Atlanta and Dallas in third paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek