Jan. 7 (UPI) — It was a disastrous week for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. But a fresh start was not to be, as a water main busted Sunday, causing flooding in one of JFK’s terminals.
The break reportedly flooded Terminal 4, but few details have been released, and the extent of the flooding is unknown.
It’s been a chaotic few days at the airport. Dozens of flights were cancelled by the bomb cyclone that dumped several inches of snow on Thursday and Friday. Officials say there aren’t enough gates to handle the backlog of rescheduled flights.
Tensions are running high among thousands of stranded passengers, some of whom have spent the last three nights at the airport.
“It’s getting like a madhouse,” traveler Steven Litvin told NBC 4 New York. “People are getting upset. You have little kids, you have animals. It’s a madhouse.”
“I’m so angry words can’t even express how I feel right now,” Bill Carver, a traveler from Austin, Texas, told CBS New York.
While many are waiting for delayed flights, others are waiting for luggage — some for hours.
“We got to this airport at four in the morning,” said passenger Rachel Greene. “We’ve been waiting for our luggage since then. They say it’s coming, but it’s not coming.”
Many passengers were stranded in planes on the tarmac for hours.
While the Port Authority says trains are running on time and planes are regulalrly taking off, transportation officials continue to face new challenges, including frozen and malfunctioning equipment.
On Saturday, a man was arrested after attempting to make his way through security with a loaded, stolen gun. A collision between two planes on the runway further delayed the growing backlog of flights.
The announcement of one cancellation reportedly led to a near-riot.
“It seems as if some punches were thrown as people jostled,” passenger Jeremy Silver told the New York Daily News. “The crowd went nuts booing and shouting.”
The weather forecast predicts evening snow showers, with a possibility of sleet and freezing rain, for New York on Monday.
