Airports ground or delay flights due to severe weather

Air travel along the East Coast has come to a screeching halt as multiple airports have been forced to ground or severely delay all flights Thursday afternoon. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that a major thunderstorm system bringing life-threatening flooding has shut down flights in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia .

Major travel hubs, including LaGuardia Airport, Newark-Liberty International Airport, and Philadelphia International Airport have all announced ground stops until at least 3:45pm ET.

Other major airports, including John F Kennedy International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, have announced ground delays lasting until at least early Friday morning.

The airport chaos has led to flight delays of more than three hours at New York's JFK Airport and New Jersey's Newark Airport. Delays out of Washington's Ronald Reagan Airport, however, have now reached a staggering 268 minutes, or four and a half hours.

Flights at Philadelphia and LaGuardia have been delayed by more than two hours due to the dangerous storm. According to AccuWeather, more 43 million people are in the path of potentially deadly flash flooding Thursday.

Other airports affected by the delays in the Northeast include Westchester County and Teterboro Airports in New York, Dulles International Airport in Virginia, and Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland. According to Flight Aware , over 5,300 flights into and out of the US have been delayed and more than 1,400 have been cancelled as of 3pm on Thursday.

Meteorologists have warned that the Northeast should expect heavy downpours through Thursday night. Flooding is expected in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, with rainfall rates reaching one to three inches per hour in many areas.

'Life-threatening flash flooding is possible, especially around and after dark. People traveling through the region, in basement apartments and other low-lying, flood-prone areas should remain vigilant and ensure they have multiple ways to receive severe weather warnings, especially after dark,' AccuWeather meteorologists said in a statement.

LaGuardia Airport, which has seen some of the largest number of flight cancellations Thursday, was forced to respond to criticism from frustrated flyers on social media. 'While the weather immediately around you may seem fine, weather conditions around New York and along flight paths play a significant role in weather related delays,' officials wrote on X .