Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Bomb Scare
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - All roads leading to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport are open after they were temporarily closed Thursday morning for several hours due to the law enforcement investigation.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, just after 1 a.m. deputies at the airport received information regarding suspicious wires found in a vehicle parked on the upper level of the airport. Deputies secured the area around the vehicle, evacuated people in the vicinity, and shut down all traffic into and out of the airport.
BSO's Bomb Squad was called in and they determined that the wires were not a threat. An all-clear was given shortly after 7 a.m.
During the road closures, traffic was backed up about a mile on U.S. 1.
Several people who took ride shares to the airport were dropped off at a nearby gas station and hoped to make it to their flights.
"It's been very stressful and tiring. We just want to get home but we can't. We were in an Uber and he was telling us the airport was closed and he was going to drop us off somewhere until it opened," said Tahja Walker who had been waiting about an hour.
Some planes were stuck on the tarmac during the investigation and a number of flights were delayed.
Coy Combs, his wife, and kids were in Ubers headed to their early morning flight when traffic hit a standstill and they were dropped off on the side of the road.
"We couldn't get to the airport. Now it's going to be 24 hours before we can get a flight out of here," he said. "We were stuck down under an overpass for a few hours."
Airport officials said people should check with airlines about possible delays.