Severe thunderstorms triggered travel headaches across the Southeast on Friday evening, bringing flash flooding and hail to Atlanta and causing numerous delays at the nation’s busiest airport.
Delta, based in Atlanta, said in a statement on Saturday morning that 90 flights were diverted to other airports in the Southeast on Friday evening as the storm swept through just before 8 p.m., dropping quarter-inch hail and microburst winds.
In addition, the airline had to temporarily pull 100 planes from service at its Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport hub to inspect for any hail damage.
“Delta people are working as safely and quickly as possible to recover flights impacted by thunderstorms, lightning, hail and winds at our Atlanta hub Friday night,” the airline said in a statement provided to FOX Weather. “We thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding.”
The airline said Delta technicians worked through the night to complete required hail inspections on exposed aircraft.
“Nearly all are returning to service Saturday,” the airline said in the statement.
The cascading weather effects had lingering impacts on Saturday’s flight schedule as well.
“The weather impacts have resulted in more than 380 system cancelations for Saturday,” a Delta spokesperson said. “Delta expects additional delays and cancelations as teams work to safely reset aircraft and flight crews complete required rest.”
Hartsfield-Jackson was under a ground stop, keeping aircraft from taking off or landing at the airport from 7:11 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday night, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.
Adding to the weather woes, the FAA was forced to evacuate most of its personnel from the Atlanta airport control tower Friday evening during strong winds.
“Air traffic controllers have returned to the Atlanta control tower after the FAA evacuated most personnel due to strong winds. A few controllers remained in the facility to handle inbound aircraft,” the FAA statement said.
A spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson, Tim Turner, confirmed to FOX 5 Atlanta that only two controllers remained in the tower during the ground stop to maintain communication.
In addition, heavy rains caused flash flooding in the area. Hartsfield-Jackson recorded just under an inch of rain in 1 hour.
Standing water forced the closure of the northbound lanes of Interstate 75 just east of the airport, according to the National Weather Service.
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