TAMPA, Fla — Tampa International Airport was still open Monday after Hurricane Debby passed through the Gulf of Mexico.
But, as you can imagine, the storm did cause many disruptions to travel. Most passengers are away, and traveling during peak hurricane season is really the luck of the draw.
“We’re playing Five Crowns,” Lucinda Hockanson said as she dealt cards. “I’ve been playing for a while; this is new for him.”
Hockanson and Todd Gooding are from St. Petersburg and know the drill when making their vacation plans to Nairobi this time of year.
“We were originally on a 7:00 p.m. flight then they changed it to 1:00 p.m.” she said. “Then they canceled the 1:00, so now we are back on the 7:00 p.m.”
“We travel a lot, so you just roll with it,” Gooding added. “Things happen, weather happens. We’ll figure it out. We’ll get there eventually.”
Eventually, there could be several hours of waiting, which is the case for the Dingler family visiting the beach from Cleveland, Ohio.
“Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:40 this morning,” Larry Dingler said. “We are not leaving until about 8:30 tonight. It’s quite the adventure trying to keep my young one occupied.”
TPA had 493 flights on Monday. According to airport data at 2:30 p.m., nearly 64 percent of flights had been canceled or delayed.
“This storm for us was not a major wind event,” TPA’s vice president of operations Benjamin Robins said. “It was pretty soggy, but pretty low sustained winds and some gusts. For the most part, we operate throughout the event.”
For up-to-date flight information, passengers are asked to check with their airline.
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