LaGuardia sinkhole and storms trigger major flight chaos
EAST ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) -- LaGuardia Airport saw widespread travel disruptions Wednesday night after a sinkhole shut down one of its two runways just hours before severe weather moved into the region, triggering hundreds of delays and cancellations.
Travelers described a chaotic scene as they waited for updates, rebooked flights and, in some cases, camped out near baggage claim to retrieve luggage from flights that never departed. "Got delayed at like noon today. I know, not a good sign," traveler Ryan Burrer said.
Carly, another stranded passenger, said she had already rebooked multiple times. "I really need to get out to the Midwest tonight for a job tomorrow. It's a paid gig. And this has really disrupted everything," she said. "I tried calling, I've rebooked my flights three times already, so that was really frustrating before the last one got canceled while I was here."
The trouble began well before the storms arrived. Earlier Wednesday, a large sinkhole opened on Runway 4/22, immediately taking it out of service and reducing the airport's capacity. Air traffic control audio captured pilots reacting with surprise.
"Ground uhh what happened to the uh runway 4 22?" one pilot asked.
"There's a sink hole," an air traffic controller responded.
"Part of the construction project?"
"I think that's safe to assume that."
"Uhh that's a smart idea."
"It looks like they got equipment out there now."
A large illuminated X marked the closed runway, signaling to pilots that it was unusable. Some travelers said the situation was so unusual it was hard to even be angry. "I guess it's like who's there to be mad at?" one person said, laughing.
Emergency crews worked urgently to repair the damage as the busy Memorial Day weekend approached. "It's tough right? It happens like that sometimes I feel like. Always at the worst time," another traveler said.
Carly said she initially assumed weather alone was to blame. "The default is always weather. So that is - I didn't know about that. That really sucks," she said.
Airport officials said they hoped to have the runway repaired by 6 a.m. Crews continued working through the night to prevent the disruption from spilling into the holiday weekend at an airport known for its tight scheduling and near-constant aircraft movements.
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
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