Hurricanes Off Both US Coasts Have 39 Airports On Alert
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - American Airlines said it's is monitoring three separate storms and has issued travel alerts to a total of 39 airports in different parts of the world.
The airline issued a travel alert for 23 airports in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia due to Hurricane Florence.
A travel alert was also issued for 14 airports in nine countries/U.S. territories for Hurricane Isaac and for 2 airports in Hawaii because of Hurricane Olivia.
American said its integrated operations center in Fort Worth continues to closely monitor the track of these storms and so far, the airline has not cancelled any flights.
This travel alert allows customers whose travel plans may be impacted to rebook without penalty, the airline said in a news release Monday.
Several meteorologists said Florence could do what Hurricane Harvey did last year over Texas, dumping days of rain, although not quite as bad.
"I think this is very Harvey-esque," said University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy. "Normally, a landfalling tropical cyclone just keeps on going inland, gradually dissipating and raining itself out. But on rare occasions, the steering patterns can line up such that a storm slips into a dead zone between troughs and ridges."
On North Carolina's Outer Banks, Dawn Farrow Taylor, 50, was gathering photos and important documents and filling prescriptions Monday before heading inland. She grew up on the island chain, and says this will be only the second time she's evacuated.
"I don't think many of us have ever been through a Category 4. And out here we're so fragile. We're just a strip of land — we're a barrier island," she said.
In the village of Buxton, Liz Browning Fox plans to ride the storm out in her house on top of a ridge. She believes her home, built in 2009, will be secure, but it's hard to foresee all potential hazards.
"You never know, there could be tree missiles coming from any direction," she said. "There is no way to be completely safe."
In announcing his evacuation order, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said an estimated 1 million people would be fleeing the coast. Eastbound lanes of Interstate 26 heading into Charleston and U.S. 501 heading into Myrtle Beach will be reversed when the order takes effect.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said his state was "in the bullseye" of the storm and urged people to "get ready now."
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
