Thousands of flight cancellations, 1.1 million lose power as strong storms hit eastern US
Rain began falling in the Washington area shortly after 5 p.m., and the skies gradually turned an ominous dark gray, a precursor to the severe weather and mass power outages that were predicted. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until 9 p.m., as well as a flood warning extending through Tuesday morning.
A special Weather Service statement warned, «There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.» The storms' spread was massive, with tornado watches and warnings posted across 10 states from Tennessee to New York. The National Weather Service said more than 29.5 million people were under a tornado watch Monday afternoon and that the area of greatest concern centered in the Washington-Baltimore region. By late Monday afternoon, about 1,500 U.S.
flights had been canceled and more than 7,000 delayed, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. More than a quarter of the cancellations were at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which was digging out from disruptions caused by Sunday storms. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was rerouting planes around storms heading to the East Coast and warned it would likely start pausing flights in and out of the New York City area, Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte and Atlanta.
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