Hurricane Helene causes Florida flight disruption

Hurricane Florida

The storm forced a number of airports in Florida to close, as well as flight disruption elsewhere in the wider region

Over 1,200 flights were cancelled and a further 4,100 delayed due to Hurricane Helene as of 6pm Eastern Time on 26 September, according to data from flight tracking website FlightAware.

The disruption was exacerbated by the closure of a number of airports in the region due to the storm on Thursday, including Tampa International Airport, St Pete-Clearwater International Airport, and Tallahassee International Airport.

Other major airports that were not in the direct path of the storm remained open, however, such as the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Miami International Airports.

The storm, then classified as Category 4, also caused serious flooding across both Florida and the neighbouring state of Georgia.

More than four million homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and neighbouring US states are without power at present, and at least 91 people have died as a result of the weather event.

Helene has now been downgraded to a tropical storm by the US National Hurricane Center as of 27 September, having lost strength after making landfall.

Elsewhere, Storm Boris caused major flooding in parts of Europe earlier this month.