Flight Disruptions Continue as Tropical Storm Helene Moves North Through Georgia, Carolinas

Hours after making landfall as a powerful and devastating Category 4 storm in Florida, Hurricane Helene continued to batter the south and disrupt travel across the country.

By Friday morning, Helene had been downgraded to a tropical storm with tornado watches and flash flood warnings issued across Georgia and the Carolinas, according to The Weather Channel. The storm was rapidly moving north through Georgia with hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall, according to the National Hurricane Center. 

“This is [a] dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the National Hurricane Center wrote in an update. “Persons should not leave  their shelters and remain in place, staying away from windows and have multiple ways to receive warnings and updates.”

Hurricane Helene, which wreaked havoc at airports on Thursday, continued to disrupt travel on Friday. As of early Friday morning, 700 flights had been canceled and more than 1,200 flights had been delayed within, into, or out of the United States, according to flight tracker FlightAware. The largest share of cancellations were coming out of North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), which axed 140 outgoing flights.

That was followed by Tampa International Airport (TPA), which had canceled nearly 100 flights so far Friday. Tampa initially suspended all commercial and cargo operations early Thursday and remained closed Friday morning.

“Damage assessments are underway and we will have an update on reopening plans later this morning,” TPA wrote in a Facebook post. 

The disruptions joined 1,300 flight cancellations and more than 6,200 flight delays from Thursday, according to data from FlightAware. 

Travel alerts from major airlines remained in effect, including from Delta Air Lines, which extended its alert to Friday travel through its hub in Atlanta (also known as the busiest airport in the world); and United Airlines, which extended its alert through Sept. 28 to several area airports, including in Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and more.

Helene, which made landfall Thursday night about 10 miles from Perry, Florida, became the second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, according to The Weather Channel. Experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have forecast this could end up being one of the most active hurricane seasons on record.