CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A day after passengers dealt with headaches at Charlotte Douglas International Airport after scattered showers and thunderstorms caused widespread power outages, flight delays and cancellations on Tuesday --- another round of thunderstorms moving through the Carolinas.
The impact of storms Wednesday is expected to be periods of heavy rain, gusty winds and lightning. Localized flooding could occur in areas where heavy rain occurs with poor drainage. Any large hail or tornadoes were not expected Wednesday.
By 5:30 p.m., just over 600 Duke Energy customers were without power in Mecklenburg County.
On Tuesday, Duke Energy reported more than 8,000 power outages in and around Charlotte around 1 a.m. Wednesday. The number was down to around 4,000 by 6:30 a.m. before climbing to nearly 7,000 a few hours later. As of 12:20 p.m., Duke Energy was reporting around 750 outages in Mecklenburg County.
While things were improving on that front, the same can't be said for the airport. As of noon, more than 100 flights were delayed and 60 were canceled. The number of cancelations has risen to 78 by 5:30 p.m. Some passengers have been stranded at the airport for hours trying to catch a flight out of the Queen City.
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Passengers packed the checkpoints throughout the morning Wednesday and the terminal was flooded with folks facing the reality of canceled flights. This led to many people spending the night inside the terminal or at the car rental center at Charlotte Douglas.
Several people were quick to share horror stories about trips they started days ago that were in limbo because of the weather. One person said she arrived in Charlotte Tuesday afternoon and hasn't found a way out yet.
"Started in Pittsburgh and finally made our way to Charlotte after incredible delays and ended up not being able to leave here," one person said. "This is the worst experience I've had with American Airlines."
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