Severe storms cancel, delay over a hundred flights at NYC airports

It’s starting to look like a bummer of a summer.

Thousands of would-be travelers were grounded Tuesday morning as New York City-area airports canceled and delayed more than a hundred flights due to storms plaguing the region.

As of early Tuesday, Newark Liberty International Airport alone had nixed 136 departing flights and delayed 14 more, FlightAware showed.

More than 180 flights scheduled to land at Newark were also canceled, the tracker indicated.

In addition, LaGuardia Airport canceled 65 flights and delayed 18, while John F. Kennedy International Airport axed 21 trips and delayed 43 others.

About 1,600 US flights were canceled and 5,800 more were delayed on Monday as strong storms brought intermittent rain, thunder and lightning to the Northeast, USA Today reported.


Rainy plane wing.
Severe weather threatened to ground travelers on Tuesday.
Anthony Fleetwood/Facebook

The Federal Aviation Administration also previously warned passengers that summer travel in the New York area may experience hiccups due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, the outlet said.

There is a severe storm threat stretching from North Carolina to the New York-Canada border for Tuesday, with the epicenter of the activity the I-95 corridor from Washington, DC, to New York, Fox Weather told The Post.

“These storms are moving in a linear pattern from south to north, and we will see more heavy rain,” meteorologist Seth Darling said.


Heavy clouds hang over One World Trade Center as severe storms hovered over the New York area on Monday.
Heavy clouds hang over One World Trade Center as severe storms hovered over the New York area on Monday.
Getty Images

“Yesterday [in New Jersey] we had flooding, wind damage, hail,” he continued.

Despite the obvious weather threat, stranded passengers have been quick to lash out at airlines over the cancellations and delays on social media.

“United Airlines canceled my flight from [Newark to San Francisco] after 6hr delay and there’s no way to locate or retrieve my checked bag at Newark Airport,” one disgruntled traveler wrote on Twitter.

Another would-be passenger shared a video on Monday night of hundreds of travelers gathering in limbo at Newark Airport as the spate of cancellations and delays made it impossible to retrieve checked belongings.

“The staff keep shouting no retrievals. The line to get your luggage is 5 plus hours long,” they fired off.

Another traveler scheduled to depart from JFK also shared on Twitter their new travel plan after multiple days of cancellations.

“After two days of cancelled flights I gave up trying to get out of JFK. Uber-ing to Penn Station now to catch a train to DC and fly back west out of there…Wish me luck!” they wrote.

As of Tuesday morning, United Airlines is leading the charge for most cancellations with 337 nixed flights and 96 delays.