Nearly 1,000 flights canceled as South braces for major storm
CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Forecasts of snow and ice as far south as Georgia put a big part of the Southeast on emergency preparedness footing as shoppers scoured stores for storm supplies and crews raced to treat highways and roads as a major winter storm approached from the Midwest.
Nearly 1,000 flights within the U.S. have already been canceled for Sunday in anticipation of snow and ice in the South, according to the flight tracking site flightaware.com, which tracks flight cancellations worldwide.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major U.S. airport hub for American Airlines, leads the list of cancellations for Sunday at U.S. airports.
As of Saturday afternoon, American Airlines had preemptively canceled more than 200 Charlotte flights for Sunday, including everything from midnight to 5 p.m. That airline’s data center shows departures past 5 p.m. as still going, but that can change as the wintry mix develops.
Possible power outages and travel problems could be exacerbated by any coating of ice — and winds gusting up to 35 mph — the National Weather Service said.
The Associated Press and NewsNation affiliate WSPA contributed to this report.