Weather impacts holiday travel as storms hit parts of Pacific Northwest, Midwest, South
Severe weather battered parts of the Pacific Northwest Thursday as forecasts showed a resurgence of heavy rain for a handful of southern and midwestern states. The wave of storms put a damper on travel plans after the Christmas holiday and contributed to hundreds of flight cancellations nationwide.
A series of thunderstorms caused ground stops at both Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Thursday afternoon. Amid what AAA predicted was to be the busiest holiday travel season on record, there were at least 264 flight cancellations out of DFW as of Thursday evening, accounting for 22% of all cancellations nationwide according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Another 550 flights out of DFW were delayed, accounting for 46% of all delays nationwide.
"We have a connecting flight here from DFW to Tokyo for our second anniversary and it's been delayed 12 times, and the communication has been poor," Latoyia Pugh told CBS News.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott activated the state's emergency response plan in preparation for the weather Thursday afternoon.
"Texas is prepared to deploy all necessary resources to help local officials respond to severe weather threats," Abbott said in a statement. "As Texans and out-of-state visitors begin traveling after the Christmas holiday, it's crucial that everyone regularly monitor road conditions, make an emergency plan, and heed the guidance of state and local officials."
At least one suspected tornado touched down near El Campo, Texas, Thursday evening, about 80 miles southwest of Houston. The most potent storms were covering a region from Shreveport, Louisiana, south to Beaumont, Texas, according to CBS News senior national weather correspondent Rob Marciano.
Earlier, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth had issued various watches and warnings for flash floods, dense fog, tornadoes and thunderstorms in different parts of the region Thursday morning. All the tornado watches and warnings had been canceled by Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Oregon and Washington were expected to see moderate to heavy rainfall and a few thunderstorms Thursday, resulting in up to 3 inches of inundation spread across the area and potentially some flooding in places where the rain falls rapidly, according to a National Weather Service advisory. Mountain snow, high winds and perilous surf was also expected.
At one point Thursday morning, almost 60,000 customers were without power in Washington and Oregon, according to the outage tracker FindEnergy.com. However, by Thursday night, that number was down to about 14,600 customers.
This is the latest iteration in a series of storms caused by an atmospheric river currently impacting the West Coast. The initial round in the Northwest is expected to move inland by Thursday afternoon, meteorologists said, offering the region a short reprieve before another bout of extreme weather arrives Thursday night in many of the same areas. The upcoming spell is expected to bring an additional inch or two of rainfall by Friday morning.
High wind warnings were also issued for stretches of coastal Oregon and Washington. Forecasters in Medford, Oregon, had warned Thursday morning that "damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines."
The National Weather Service in Seattle shared similar warnings overnight Wednesday into Thursday, noting wind gusts in the area could peak at around 60 mph for coastal areas and reach up to 55 mph around the Puget Sound. Meteorologists in Portland reported a wind gust of 92 mph at Beacon Rock, Washington — which is roughly 35 miles east of Portland — in the early hours of Thursday morning, the weather service said.
The latest storms in the Pacific Northwest trailed a string of dangerous weather along the West Coast this holiday week. Earlier, a major storm hammered Northern California and caused the death of at least one person in Sunset State Beach in Santa Cruz, who on Monday became trapped beneath debris that authorities believe piled on top of him because of a large wave, the Associated Press reported. Two people had to be rescued when a portion of the Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed.
Thick fog also hovered over portions of the Midwest on Thursday. In Kansas City, forecasters predicted fog and light rainfall would persist throughout the day, with areas of especially low visibility — less than a quarter of a mile in some places — expected to linger across central and eastern Kansas as well as central Missouri through the morning. Forecasts suggested the fog would dissipate, but only to an extent, by the afternoon.
Outlooks farther north in Illinois were fairly similar.
"Areas of dense fog will remain over parts of northern Illinois into this afternoon," the National Weather Service in Chicago said in a mid-morning advisory Thursday. "Expect low visibilities and slowed driving out on the roads until conditions improve."
