US airports slowly resume operations in the face of winter storm

The United States was slowly emerging from a historic winter storm that killed at least 56 people on Wednesday, but its impact continued to be felt especially at airports, where hundreds of thousands of passengers were looking to catch a flight after a cascade of cancellations.

Heavy snowfall, freezing winds, polar temperatures: even in regions accustomed to harsh winters, the blizzard that has plagued the country for a week has wreaked havoc, to the point that rescue teams have sometimes been stranded.

Erie County of NYwhere is the city of Buffalonear the Canadian border, alone accounts for 34 of the at least 56 weather-related deaths across the country, according to a new report released Wednesday.

Dead people were found in their cars or on the streets, some after waiting for hours to be rescued.

The cold was felt to varying degrees across much of the country, including Texas and Florida, which are not used to such weather conditions. In both southern states the weather improved on Wednesday, with rising temperatures.

But this does not mean that the population is out of danger, according to the authorities.

“As the temperature warms, we expect snow melt and possible flooding due to rapid melting,” Erie County Official Mark Poloncarz said.

The driving ban remains in effect this Wednesday in Buffalo. And the National Guard will go door-to-door in areas that have lost power to make sure residents are safe, the official tweeted.

stacks of suitcases

At airports, especially in Denver, Chicago and Baltimore, flight disruptions continued.

The problem is the domino effect cancellations around last Christmas weekend.

While the pace of most airlines had returned to normal, one company, Southwest Airlinescontinued to deal with a service collapse in recent days.

Of the approximately 2,800 canceled flights on Wednesday morning, more than 2,500 were operated by Southwest, according to the specialized site. FlightAware.

On Tuesday night, its chief executive, Bob Jordan, apologized in a video message. “We are doing everything we can to get back to normal… We are very sorry,” he said.

In CNNSouthwest’s pilots’ union vice president, Mike Santoro, expressed his frustration, explaining that the company had long suffered from a “largely outdated” computer system, which made it difficult to organize flights.

“We are tired of apologizing on behalf of Southwest,” he said, calling on the company to invest in upgrading its system.

“This is the biggest disruption (of flights) I’ve seen in my 16 years with the company (…). It’s shameful,” he said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he would look closely at what happened.

“While we understand that it is impossible to control the weather, the line has clearly been crossed here between an uncontrollable situation in terms of the weather and something that is the direct responsibility of the company,” he told NBC.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of suitcases were still stacked at the BWI airport in Baltimore, Maryland, waiting to be returned to their owners, according to an AFP journalist.

Donald Sneyder, a Southwest customer, was lining up with about 40 other people outside the company’s baggage counter.

“I had a flight to Indianapolis on Sunday, but it was canceled and my bags had already been checked out,” he explained.

“I didn’t try to come earlier this week, this looked like a beautiful mess. But I hope to get my bags back today,” he added.

Other people were trying to locate their luggage with the help of airline staff, among the hundreds of bags and suitcases lined up, classified by flight.

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