UPDATE from the Orlando Airport on the Impact of Hurricane Ian

Hurricane (now Tropical Storm) Ian has impacted various areas of Florida and its effects are still being felt.

Orlando International Airport

Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal have all closed for a short period of time, school closures have been announced, and other adjustments have been made. When it comes to travel, the Orlando International Airport announced that it would be closed starting September 28th and now we have an update.

According to the Orlando International Airport’s Twitter account, all “commercial flight operations are still halted for today,” September 29th. They noted that a damage assessment is taking place throughout the airport and the airport’s facilities to see what impacts Hurricane Ian (now Tropical Storm Ian) has had.

Orlando International Airport

Additionally, they pointed out that “all roads leading into Orlando International Airport are closed due to flooding at this time.” You can see a bit of flooding in the video below from Spectrum News 13.

Officials said all roads leading into Orlando International Airport are closed due to flooding from Ian. This includes all major and secondary arteries including Jeff Fuqua and Heintzelman Boulevard's and Bear and Cargo Roads. (Video is of Wekiva Road in Altamonte Springs) pic.twitter.com/gXvbwh1rg6

— Spectrum News 13 (@MyNews13) September 29, 2022

So when will regular flight operations resume? According to the airport, commercial flight operations are “expected” to resume at some point on Friday, September 30th. But that is all pending their damage assessment. The airport noted that once an official reopening time is decided, they will share an update via social media and on their website.

This is not totally unexpected as the airport had previously indicated that operations would be expected to resume sometime on Friday, but now we’ve got further details.

©Orlando International Airport

Worried about missing your flight? Got a question for your airline about whether your flight will be moving forward? Be sure to call your airline directly to get all the information you need.

Orlando Airport

According to Eric Burris, at around 9:46AM on September 29th, there were gusts at MCO up to 60MPH.

MCO just gusting to 60mph, 64mph in Sanford…

— Eric Burris (@EricBurrisWESH) September 29, 2022

Ian is now a tropical storm. As of the 5AM advisory for September 29th, tropical storm winds are expected to spread northward across the northeastern part of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolina coasts.

One of the big concerns is widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding that is expected to continue today (September 29th) across parts of Central Florida.