Power fully restored at Atlanta airport
ATLANTA (AP) — Minutes after its midnight deadline to get the electricity back on at the world’s busiest airport, Georgia Power announced early yesterday that power had been fully restored to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, where more than 1,000 flights were grounded just days before the start of the Christmas travel rush.
A sudden power outage caused by a fire in an underground electrical facility brought the airport to a standstill.
Georgia Power said on its Twitter page that “Power has been restored on all concourses. 5,000+ meals are being delivered to passengers. Trains will be operational soon.”
Passengers at the airport were left in the dark when the lights went out at around 1 p.m. The outage halted all outgoing flights, and arriving planes were held on the ground at their point of departure. International flights were being diverted, officials said.
Mayor Kasim Reed tweeted on Sunday night that all passengers had been safely deplaned.
The City of Atlanta said on its Twitter page that it would provide shuttle service to the Georgia Convention Center for travelers in need of a place to stay and Chick-fil-A would be provided.
Delta passenger Emilia Duca, 32, was on her way to Wisconsin from Bogota, Colombia, when she got stuck in Atlanta. She said police made passengers who were in the baggage-claim area move to a higher floor. She said restaurants and shops were closed. Vending machines weren’t working.
“A lot of people are arriving, and no one is going out. No one is saying anything official. We are stuck here,” she said. “It’s a nightmare.”
Adding to the nightmare are what some passengers said was a lack of information from airport officials and help from first responders to get the disabled and the elderly through the airport without the use of escalators and elevators.
“They had these elderly people, handicapped people lined up in wheelchairs, said stranded passenger Rutia Curry. “The people were helpless, they can’t get down the stairs, it was just a nightmare.”
Passenger James Beatty said there was no real method for evacuation.
“I mean there was 40 or 50 people per the terminal area that were confined to wheelchairs and some that couldn’t get through the airport very well, some of them actually couldn’t walk and there was no plan at all to get them out of here without any power.”
Beatty said passengers carried those who used wheelchairs down stairs.