This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Flooding due to a burst water main forced the suspension of international flight arrivals at New York’s John F Kennedy international airport on Sunday, adding to the misery of travelers after a “bomb cyclone” winter storm canceled or delayed hundreds of flights.

Winter storm causes thousands of flight cancellations in eastern US Read more

Water poured from the ceiling on to a check-in counter and covered large areas of the floor of Terminal 4, video on CNN showed. The disruption occurred while the US north-east continued to endure bone-chilling weather with the New York temperature at 17F (-8C).

International flights to Terminal 4 were suspended and passengers who had already arrived there were diverted to other terminals, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. The airport advised travelers to check with their airlines before arriving.

The Port Authority said the burst water pipe appeared to be weather related. Flights later resumed but with delays, it said.

“What happened at JFK airport is unacceptable, and travelers expect and deserve better,” Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton said in a statement.

Port Authority police and the fire department of New York were on the scene and assisting Port Authority operations managers and maintenance personnel, and the cause of the rupture was still being investigated, Ladd said.

The flooding hit just as the airport was crawling back to normal after the winter storm forced the airport to close on Thursday. When operations resumed on Friday, the backlog led to hundreds more delays or cancellations, crowding terminals with stranded passengers.

More than 500 flights into or out of JFK were canceled and nearly 1,400 delayed from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. The extreme cold and recovery from Thursday’s snowstorm created a “cascading series of issues for the airlines and terminal operators”, the Port Authority said.

Equipment froze and baggage handling was delayed, which was compounded by staff shortages and heavier than normal passenger loads, the Port Authority said. The backlog left passengers stuck on planes for long stretches while waiting for other aircraft to get in and out of gates.