Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport in Florida remains closed this morning following storms last night that left parts of the airport submerged under floodwater.
#Breaking - the runway & tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International #Airport looks like a river! #FLL is closed & flights not expected to resume until Noon today. Areas near the airport received about 15”-20” of rain over the past 24 hours. 315 flights canceled so far. pic.twitter.com/jKNmfrS9SS
— Kris Anderson (@KrisAndersonTV) April 13, 2023
The Federal Aviation Administration lists the airport – one of Florida’s busiest – as closed until noon eastern US time today.
Video of the airport, taken this morning and posted on Twitter, shows that some of the airport remains underwater.
The airport confirms the closure on its Twitter account, saying “roadways are still closed and impacted by flooding”.
“While vehicles are being removed from the upper/lower levels, the main exit artery remains flooded and congested with slow-moving traffic,” the airport tweeted last night.
(1/2) Here’s the aftermath of 18-20” of rain in 12 hours. Flooding at the Fort Lauderdale airport while riding the Brightline this morning at 7:20am. Th runways are flooded. 🤯 @GoBrightline @FLLFlyer #flooding #FLL pic.twitter.com/2IRoGv91OA
— Mr. Maxwell (@TheReal_Maximus) April 13, 2023
Major storms slammed South Florida yesterday, prompting the US National Weather Service to issue a “Flash Flood Emergency”.
According to reports, storms dumped 0.5m (20in) of rain on the Fort Lauderdale area over several hours.
The FAA says the airport closed at about 23:00 last night.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport is among the busiest in Florida, with an average of about 720 daily scheduled departing and arriving flights in April, according to Cirium data.
Spirit Airlines operates the most flights at Fort Lauderdale – 190, on average each day in April – following by JetBlue Airways, with about 150 daily flights, and Southwest Airlines, with 113 daily flights, Cirium data shows.
