Irene brings international flight chaos
A sailboat is washed ashore as Hurricane Irene arrives yesterday in Southampton, New York. The death toll from Irene has risen to 12 across five eastern US states, emergency officials said, as the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm.Photo: AFP
Hurricane Irene brought international travel chaos Saturday with thousands of flights cancelled, while New York shut down its transport system fearing widespread flooding.
Many airlines cancelled flights to New York, Washington and other eastern US airports as far south as Miami, Florida as Irene charged up the coast.
British Airways, Air France, American Airlines, Continental and major Asian airlines cancelled scores of flights to and from Europe and Asia, while thousands of domestic flights fell victim to the killer storm.
The flightaware.com website, which tracks airport arrivals and departures, estimated that 8,337 flights would be cancelled during the weekend, mainly US domestic trips. It warned that the figure would rise.
New York area airports closed to arrivals at midday local time while many carriers decided not to risk departures.
An Air France spokesman in Paris said that the company's flights to and from New York were not expected to resume before Monday.
Rail traffic across the eastern United States also came to a standstill and public transport in the New York region was halted. In New York City, it was the first shutdown ever caused by a weather disaster.
Subway rail stations were roped off after the final trains left. New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was unable to say when trains and buses would start again.
The New York subway is one of the world's biggest with 468 stations served by some 6,380 cars. There are also about 5,900 city buses.
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