US Weather: Unexpected Storms and Flood Fuel Barrage Resulting in Delayed and Cancellation of Flights

In Yellowstone, furious torrents wiped out a whole structure and roadways, while people in St. Louis are swimming frantically from their homes.

There have also been numerous fatalities in Kentucky during severe rainstorms recently.

With that, scientists have warned that the climate problem is intensifying the havoc caused by the catastrophic flooding that occurred in the US during this summer.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport saw severe thunderstorms on Wednesday, which resulted in 100 American Airlines flight diversions and hundreds of cancellations that continued into Thursday's schedule.

Flight interruption due to the unexpected storm

(Photo : MARTY MELVILLE/AFP via Getty Images)

By mid-afternoon on Thursday, 10% of American Airlines' scheduled flights had been canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

By Thursday afternoon, there had been a total of nearly 700 US airline cancellations. By Thursday afternoon, more than 4,500 planes were running late.

Furthermore, the company canceled over 370 flights on Wednesday.

According to FlightAware statistics, more than 1,200 US flights were canceled just on Wednesday alone.

The main hub of American Airlines is DFW airport.

According to FlightAware, the Dallas-based Southwest Airlines recorded roughly 250 cancellations on Wednesday. On Thursday, Southwest canceled around 100 flights.

The airline made preparations for thunderstorms that were predicted for Wednesday afternoon south of the airport, according to American's Chief Operating Officer David Seymour. 

However, an unexpected second wave arrived.

In a message to workers obtained by CNN Travel, Seymour said that the storms "then regenerated and developed a completely new, and unannounced, line of storms north of the airport, which unexpected storm activity stopped all arrivals into DFW for a three-hour period."

The second-longest run without measurable rain at DFW Airport was 67 days, and such weather can seriously disrupt the aviation business.

Seymour said that this storm was the worst to hit DFW this summer and that there was no warning it was coming.

He acknowledged the efforts made by the American Airlines team to recover from the weather delay and noted that cancellations have a significant negative impact on their customers.

Flight cancellations are a last option, according to the COO's message to the personnel.

Also Read: Flooding Due to Heavy Rain Kills Five People, Displaces Thousands in Tanzania

Deadliest flood barrage in Kentucky

US President Joe Biden called the deadliest of the recent floods, in Kentucky "heartbreaking" as he looked at destroyed homes and submerged automobiles on Monday.

Five days of relentless record rain, which scientists believe occurs only once every 1,000 years, swept down mountain slopes and swamped entire communities, resulting in at least 37 fatalities.

However, after St. Louis broke its one-day rainfall record on July 26 by 8 am, flooding city streets and homes, and an equally catastrophic storm hit Illinois, such extremes are no longer outliers.

A year's worth of rain fell in three hours in Death Valley, California, on Friday, generating vast sheets of water that swept away and destroyed hundreds of miles of roadways.

Death Valley is notorious for its scorching dry heat.

The US suffered at least four flooding episodes within an 11-day period, each of which would typically be anticipated once per 1,000 years or had a 0.1% probability of occurring in any given year.

According to scientists, excessive rainfall brought on by climate breakdown is making many of these traditional patterns obsolete.

The summer of floods in America has produced remarkable spectacles, including the enormous structure in Yellowstone in June that was uprooted from its foundations and swept away by floodwaters in June.

It took a month for the major road gates to the national park to fully reopen after they were cut off by flooding that officials described as "unprecedented."

Although flooding has always happened in the US, the current climate issue is making it more common and aggravating it.

According to the most current national climate assessment conducted by the federal government, heavy precipitation occurrences have grown by 55% in the northeastern US during the 1950s, and by 27% in the southeast, including Kentucky.

Related article: Flash Flooding with Mud and Debris Led to Road Closures Within and Around Death Valley National Park