ORLANDO, Fla. — As weather warnings remained in effect in certain parts of the country Monday morning, travelers at Orlando’s International Airport (MCO) are feeling the effects of the storm and one of the busiest travel periods of the year-spring break.
What You Need To Know
- Severe weather conditions and spring break travel contributed to numerous delays and flight cancellations at Orlando’s International Airport
- Various parts of the U.S. including northern Florida, portions of the Carolinas and east Georgia were hit by a monster storm over the weekend that left over 37 people dead
- Flight tracking app FlightAware noted more than 11,000 flight delays as a result of the storm that made its way across central and southern U.S.
- A ground stop briefly went into effect Sunday evening at MCO due to severe weather conditions and thunderstorms
A massive storm combining tornadoes, wildfires and a dust sweep across parts of the U.S have left at least 37 people dead over the weekend.
On Sunday morning, the National Weather Service said tornado watches remained in effect for portions of the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida.
This severe weather impacted many flights coming in and out of the Sunshine State.
It’s spring break in Central Florida and while many people are thinking of the sun and the beach, severe weather across the nation led to travel-related issues over the weekend.
As of Monday morning, there was no shortage of travelers in security and check-in lines waiting to register their luggage for their flights.
As parts of the country experienced severe weather over the weekend, the flight tracking app FlightAware reported more than 11,000 delays and 997 cancellations of flights within or going into and out of the U.S. on Sunday.
There was also a brief ground stop at Orlando International Airport on Sunday night due to weather conditions and thunderstorms.
One traveler found out his early morning flight back to Omaha had been cancelled in the middle of the night Sunday.
Now, he and his family are forced to consider other options since the only other flight to Nebraska from Orlando was 24 hours later.
“Well we got two options the way I see it, either we get a hotel which you know can’t get there til 4 o’clock this afternoon probably due to check-in times or we rent a car and drive home and I’d consider that because I don’t know if I’d run into this again tomorrow,” says traveler Jordan Beldin.
According to Orlando international Airport, it is estimated that more than 7.4 million people will travel through MCO during the 44-day spring break period.
The busiest travel day is expected to be Saturday, March 15, with nearly 200,000 travelers.