Lightning hit the Baltimore Airport's air-traffic control tower Thursday, September 12, as thunderstorms raged throughout the Northeast, delaying several flights in the process.
The lightning struck around 2:20 in the afternoon, forcing officials to stop all takeoffs and landings temporarily. It knocked out all power in the airport tower, thus preventing air traffic controller from reaching and communicating to the pilots, a mutual efficiency that calls for the complete attention of both parties. Any event of miscommunication could cause unnecessary accidents on the tarmac.
One worker was hurt in the lightning strike, a traffic management coordinator turning on tower equipment. He was instantly electrocuted once the tower was hit, as the electricity ran through the tower. He has since been taken to a hospital to be treated, and was reported to have no serious injuries.
The airport reopened at around 4:45 in the afternoon, as announced on a tweet from the airport's official account, but with the electrocuted tower remaining closed.
The tower has been evacuated, and air traffic controls were temporarily handed over to a Potomac Facility.
Upon resuming the flights, all the runways have been cleared and declared to be open. Despite the reopening however, many flights set to take off before eight in the evening were either delayed, or were canceled altogether. Many flights were also diverted to other airports not experiencing severe weather conditions.
By Friday morning, the normal concurrency of flights went back to normal, with delays numbering to fifteen minutes at most. Stranded passengers were seen in patches attempting to catch up on sleep, while others packed into lines, keen on avoiding further flight delays. One stranded passenger told the press that they were kept well informed and up to date over the public address system.
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