The violent nor’easter that battered the East Coast over the past weekend destroyed a wall at Rhode Island’s Theodore Francis Green State Airport, closing it for business temporarily.
Debris from the temporary construction wall scattered across the Kent County airfield, leading to the cancellation of more than 76 flights as the fall-out was cleared, according to a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Transportation.
The wreckage has now been cleared and flights resumed, but delays will persist for “a number of days”, Mark Brewer, President and Chief Executive of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation told the Aero-News Network.
Strong winds toppled the 30-foot high by 100-foot wide wall early morning yesterday (Monday, April 16), spreading fibreglass insulation, drywall, and steel beams across the state’s main airport, which is undergoing an $83 million renovation.
When it fell, airport officials immediately knew that the airport had to close, Brewer said. Green State has only ever shut once before – on September 11, 2001.
This week marks the beginning of Rhode Island’s public school vacation, meaning that most flights were fully booked.
Patti Goldstein, spokesperson for Green State Airport, said: “Every accommodation will be made to take care of the passengers, and with regard to those who missed their flights today (Monday), our airlines will do everything they can to rebook those flights.”
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