US winter storm wreaks havoc across south, cancelling 3,000 flights nationwide

A powerful winter storm in the US is wreaking havoc across the South, bringing heavy snow and ice that has led to widespread travel disruptions and power outages. The storm, which swept through the Plains just a day earlier, forced schools and government offices to close on Friday, with states of emergency declared as it intensified. Travel chaos ensued, with over 3,000 flights cancelled—marking the worst day for flight disruptions since July—affecting major airports throughout the region, according to FlightAware.

While the US winter storm brought chaos for the entire aerial traffic, Delta Airlines particularly suffered a rougher impact as all five runways at the Atlanta International Airport closed down temporarily for two hours. (Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg)

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Delta Airlines affected amid winter storm

While the winter storm brought chaos for the entire aerial traffic, Delta Airlines particularly suffered a rougher impact as all five runways at the Atlanta International Airport closed down temporarily for two hours. The reason cited behind the temporary closure was a “worse than-expected mix of winter weather,” as per Delta Airlines.

On Friday, the airport recorded that there was a cancellation of approximately 1,100 flights across the network while they worked to stabilise their network operations for the approaching weekend.

Moreover, a technical issue hit one of the Delta flights which was expected to take off in Atlanta. A serious incident took place when some issue with the engine of Boeing 757-300 had to cancel its departure. Around 200 passengers and crew made an exit from the aircraft using the emergency slides, according to a statement from the company to US media.

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Other airports face issues amid winter storm

Two of American Airlines’ major hubs, Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, were significantly impacted by the storm, with numerous flights cancelled throughout the day. FlightAware reports that 43% of departing flights were cancelled at Charlotte, while 23% were grounded at DFW, adding to the chaos already gripping the region as the storm continued to disrupt air travel across the South, as reported by CNN. FlightAware reported 1,200 flights were cancelled across the two airports. Thus, the number reached over 3,000 flights which were shown a stop sign before departure on Friday across the nation.

The temperature dipped below zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius) which resulted in electricity cuts in tens of thousands of houses.