Originally Posted by
Medic1
Hello All -
I have a flight from PDX to DCA this Saturday morning. I know the hurricane is supposed to be gone from the area by then, but with all the cancelled flights all over the country (and world), I don't know how hard it's going to be to get in to the DC area immediately following the storm.
I was hoping some regular DCA flyers or area residents could give some advice on how the area and airport has weathered storms in the past and how fast normal flight traffic resumes. If I have some advanced warning, I can make changes to my itinerary now or at least plan for the downstream effects if I'm late getting there.
I lived in that area for a dozen years. I was there when Isabel hit.
The subway will be back to running barring something major and unforeseen.
There will be alot of power outages which will take time for that power to be restored due to fallen trees and downed power lines.
During Isabell i was fortunate living on the same power grid as an assisted living center which had priority for restoring power. Coworkers of mine were without power for 2-3 weeks due to all the trees down.
In downtown DC where there isnt much in terms of trees there likely wont be much power issues. It is possible some areas of metro could be closed off because of repair.
since metro stations usually have 2-3 different entry points if all were damaged they would work to open one then work to open others.
DC has gone through previous tropical storms and nor'easters so this wont be that much different than past storms.
the flight traffic is a whole other story. What airline are you flying?
If you are flying alaska this will have no impact. If you are flying jet blue or United then it will probably have some impact on routing and schedule.
If you dont need to travel this weekend and can postpone the travel to a future weekend --then i suggest that. The airlines will let passengers change.