American Airlines Cancels All Flights at DFW

Much of the middle of the country is being pounded by heavy rains with severe storms and tornadoes forecast for later today. Dallas Fort-Worth airport is the third busiest in the nation, and their largest tenant is American Airlines which has now canceled all of their flights for today:

Strong winds and heavy rains grounded hundreds of flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesday, and a control tower was briefly evacuated when a funnel cloud was spotted.

Stormy conditions led American Airlines to cancel flights scheduled from 11 a.m. through the remainder of Tuesday affecting some 700 departures and arrivals. More than 100 of the carrier's flights headed to D-FW were diverted, spokesman Tim Wagner said.

"The airlines are bringing planes back from the tarmac to the gate, and it's going to be a tough afternoon," airport spokesman Ken Capps said. "Everyone is working hard to keep passengers as comfortable as possible in the terminals."

Federal Aviation Administration officials evacuated the airport's west tower for about 15 minutes after seeing a funnel cloud over a highway. A funnel cloud was also spotted over Lake Lewisville, just north of the airport.

I've gone through that airport bunches of times, and even sat out a thunderstorm there once, but I can't imagine what they'll do with all the passengers that must now be stuck there. The older terminals, A & C, are very long but not very wide and they're crowded on even a slow day. And given that many flights these days are fully booked and overbooked, there's no telling how they'll be able to clear the backlog of passengers that got canceled today. They may have people stuck there for days, not to mention the pour souls who were trying to get to Dallas and will be stuck in cities around the country.