Airlines cancel flights out of Phoenix after storm slams East Coast
Mar 2, 2018, 11:42 AM
People stand at the entrance to a pizza shop as water floods a street, in Scituate, Mass., Friday, March 2, 2018. A major nor'easter pounded the East Coast on Friday, packing heavy rain and strong winds as residents from the mid-Atlantic to Maine braced for coastal flooding. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
PHOENIX — A storm raging on the East Coast delayed or canceled scores of flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Friday.
Another storm was forecast to hit the West Coast the same day, also pushing flights off the board.
The airport posted the 41 cancellations and 25 delays (as of 11 a.m. Arizona time Friday) online caused by the major nor’easter that hammered the East. Heavy rain, intermittent snow and strong winds had residents from the mid-Atlantic to Maine braced for flooding.
American Airlines was hit the hardest, with 26 flights abandoned that were headed east for Baltimore; Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C. and Newark, New Jersey.
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Southwest cancelled 10 flights, including one of Los Angeles.
Overall, more than 2,00 flights were grounded.
The Eastern Seaboard was expected to be buffeted by wind gusts exceeding 50 mph, with possible hurricane-strength winds of 80 to 90 mph on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Delta, Southwest, JetBlue and American Airlines were allowing travelers to change their Friday and Saturday flights to avoid delays and cancellations at key airports across the Northeast.
Meanwhile, in metro Phoenix, a spokesman for the National Weather Service said rain wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon and the temperatures would be heating up.
“We may be seeing the 80s start to creep back by Wednesday,” meteorologist Jaret Rogers said.
The high for Friday was expected to reach the mid-70s and the about the same Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
