Hurricane Irene
 

In light of the recent thread concerning the guy seeking a refund when Hurricane Floyd wrecked his travel plans: Be forewarned that many flights in and out of South Florida and the West Coast of Florida have been cancelled because of the effects of Hurricane Irene. The west coast and the Florida Keys are under a hurricane warning; south Florida and up the east coast are under a hurricane watch. I live in South Florida and at this very moment I am peering out at high winds, torrents of rain and the small lake all the rain has left on my street. Hurricane center is reporting that this type of weather will be the norm most of the weekend.

Ditto for the Caribbean. Those countries, especially Cuba, are getting the brunt of this storm. The biggest problem is the flooding.

What about flights from West Palm Beach? Several of my family members, including my grandfather, are supposed to fly into Newark today. They were originally coming out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, and rebooked out of West Palm Beach when their flights are cancelled. Is the airport there ok?

Amazingly, every Delta flight out of Miami today has been exactly on time per their departures web page. I would recommend checking the airline's web page. Most have real-time arrival/departure info.

Actually, they started to cancel flights into/out of Miami at 1:00 PM.

Ilisa, <BR>Not sure about West Palm. I live about an hour south of there and we're not getting any news about Palm Beach County. But I know that Palm Beach County is also under a hurricane watch and supposed to be getting some bad weather so I wouldn't be surprised if those flights were canceled. The absolute worst of it -- driving rain, high winds, severe street flooding -- is hitting Miami-Dade and Broward Counties right now. Thank goodness I'm at home, safe, and still have power so I can sign on and keep in touch with fellow Fodorites!

Ilisa, FYI, the Delta flights out of West Palm Beach to Atlanta were OK today up until the 4:30 PM which was cancelled. The last one that got out left at 3:10 PM.

What, do you work for Delta? How do you know her relatives were even scheduled to be on a Delta flight? Bottom line is it's dangerous in these parts right now -- Delta flight or not.

Now's it's RDU.

Thanks for all the info. As it turned out, my family took over 24 hours to get from Florida to NJ. My one cousin was first shuttled from Miami to West Palm Beach then back to Miami where she spent the night in the terminal. She then managed to get on a flight from to Philadelphia. My aunt, uncle, and grandfather were shuttled from Ft. Lauderdale, to West Palm, to Miami, then back to Ft. Lauderdale (all in the middle of a hurricane) where they gave up and went home until the next day. They eventually got on a flight from MIA to Hartford, CT, then caught a connection to JFK, then caught a shuttle bus to Newark. Actually, they were originally scheduled to be on Delta who rebooked them on Contintental. Incidentally, Delta was wonderful to them, Continental was horrendous. Absolutely crazy.

Just as we're getting over Hurricane Irene, National Weather Service is announcing that Tropical Storm Jose is on the way. There are people who still cannot get out of their homes and drive from their streets because of the standing water. So many cars have been totalled from being submerged that it is impossible to get a rental. Things to keep in mind if you're headed this way this weekend. Seems a trifle unfair, but that is life in South Florida during hurricane season.