Page 5 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 5
U.S. NEWS A5
Tuesday 9 January 2018
JFK airport tries to catch up after cascade of winter woes
By DEEPTI HAJELA nized,” he said. “There’s a Avianca passengers lay on the floor while waiting for their flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy
JENNIFER PELTZ big lack of information.”
Associated Press With a forecast calling for Airport Terminal 4, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said
NEW YORK (AP) — Frazzled a bit more snow and sleet
travelers snoozed on floors Monday night, scores of Monday it will investigate the water pipe break that added to the weather-related delays at
and dozens of suitcases sat flights were still delayed
unclaimed as a welter of or canceled earlier in the Kennedy Airport and will “hold all responsible parties accountable.”
wintry problems — from a day as one of the nation’s
snowstorm to a burst water busiest airports tried to un- (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
pipe — extended flight de- tangle a knot of trouble
lays at Kennedy Airport into that began when a winter er outside a terminal amid sey, told reporters Sunday. and I’m still in the airport,
a fourth day Monday. storm blasted New York
Andrea Collavo and his girl- and snarled air travel on the difficult conditions early The Port Authority owns sitting on the ground,” she
friend were supposed to fly Thursday.
home to Italy on Friday af- As the skies cleared, unusu- Saturday. and operates JFK, although said.
ter a vacation in the U.S., ally cold weather shot in,
but flight cancellations and creating what the airport “What broke down — and private companies and air- It wasn’t immediately clear
delays meant they were operating agency called
still trying to get into the air a cascade of problems it broke down badly — was lines run the terminals. how many passenger-filled
days later. They hauled their over the weekend. Tem-
suitcases back to Kennedy peratures around the air- the coordination between Mariani Silva spent the planes at JFK sat on the
Monday morning, hoping port were in the teens and
they could manage to get single digits Saturday and terminal operators and the night at JFK, after arriving ground long enough to
to Venice by Wednesday, Sunday, hitting just 4 de-
even if it might mean buy- grees around 8 a.m. Sun- airlines to assure that there around 7 p.m. Sunday for risk a possible U.S. Depart-
ing pricey new tickets. day, according to the Na-
They had spent days shut- tional Weather Service. were gates available for her flight home to Brazil. ment of Transportation fine.
tling back and forth to ho- Frozen equipment, lug-
tels, waiting in a terminal, gage-handling problems the arriving airplanes,” Rick She was hoping to get on a The threshold is more than
calling airlines and finally and staff shortages slowed
getting on a plane Sunday down operations on the Cotton, the executive di- plane Monday evening. three hours for a domestic
only to have it spend two ground.
hours on the tarmac and As flights got backlogged, rector of the Port Authority “I’m trying to go back to flight and four for an inter-
then turn back because of gates clogged up, and
an equipment problem, a some arriving passengers of New York and New Jer- Sao Paulo since yesterday, national one. q
frustrated Collavo said. waited on the tarmac for
“I can understand: Yeah, hours and ended up being
it’s a mess because of the bused to terminals. Other
weather. But it seems that flights were diverted. One
they’re not very well orga- plane even clipped anoth-
Rain unleashes risk of mudslides in fire-ravaged California
By ERIC RISBERG in devastated northern counties north of San Fran- driving around looking for dents near burned areas to
OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ wine country areas and cisco, warning that heavy signs of any flooding, mud- have evacuation plans in
Associated Press leading authorities to order rainfall could trigger mud- slides, things of that nature. case they need to flee.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) evacuations for Southern slides in areas devastated They are making sure water “The fire damaged a signifi-
— Storms brought rain to California towns below hill- by October wildfires. The is flowing, making sure de- cant amount of trees and
California on Monday and sides burned by the state’s blazes leveled entire neigh- bris clogging storm drains although a lot of the trees
increased the risk of mud- largest wildfire in history. borhoods, killing 44 people or gutters is cleared up,” have been cut down and
slides in fire-ravaged com- Forecasters issued a flash and destroying more than said Santa Rosa Assistant removed, there are still a
munities, driving property flood watch for parts for 8,900 homes and buildings. Fire Marshal Paul Lowen- lot of trees that could be a
owners to stack sandbags Sonoma and Mendocino “City crews are actively thal, who encouraged resi- concern,” he said.q
