Flood threat could slow travel at Atlanta airport as Delta struggles to recover from global tech outage

ATLANTA – Rounds of torrential rain and thunderstorms are again expected across a large portion of the South on Wednesday, including Atlanta, which could see more flooding that would impact travel at the world’s busiest airport as Delta Airlines continues to recover after a global tech outage.

Airline passengers worldwide were stranded for days after thousands of flights were forced to be canceled when a tech outage brought down computer systems on Friday.

Delta Airlines, which has a hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), apologized to impacted travelers and said it was working “around the clock” to restore its systems to safely return passengers to the air.

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And while progress has been made, additional flights could be delayed or canceled in Atlanta as tropical moisture and a stalled-out cold front combine to produce relentless rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms across the region.

Delta has thousands of flights scheduled on Wednesday, and the delays and cancellations are already starting to increase due to the combination of the tech outage and weather impacting airports.

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Atlanta could pick up 1-2 inches of rain this week

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Millions of people from Texas to the mid-Atlantic have been slammed by rounds of rain and thunderstorms, which have led to reports of flooding across the region.

According to a report from FOX 5 in Atlanta, heavy rain rolled across the metro area on Tuesday, leading to flash flooding and reports of damage.

In the northwestern Atlanta metro in Cobb County, firefighters safely evacuated about 12 residents who had been stranded by flooding. Another man was rescued from his Atlanta home after a tree snapped and fell onto the structure.

Atlanta could pick up 1-2 inches of additional rain through the end of the week, which could overwhelm drainage systems and lead to more flooding. Some areas in the southern Atlanta metro, where Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is located, could see even higher rainfall totals of 2-3 inches.

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Flood threat increases from Texas to mid-Atlantic

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Several inches of rain could fall in communities across the South, from Texas and the Gulf Coast through Atlanta in the Southeast and into the Carolinas and mid-Atlantic states.

Most areas are expected to pick up anywhere from 1-2 inches of rain. But where the heavier bands of precipitation set up, much higher rainfall totals are expected.

Computer forecast models show those higher rainfall totals could fall across South Texas, including the Houston and Galveston areas, which are still recovering from Hurricane Beryl earlier this month.

Many locations in the Southeast could also see rainfall totals of 2-3 inches through the end of the week, with locally higher amounts of 3-5 inches in eastern Georgia and eastern portions of South Carolina and North Carolina.

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A flood threat exists across much of the eastern half of the U.S. on Wednesday. However, NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has highlighted a large swath of the South and Southeast where the flood threat is higher.

The WPC placed the region from Corpus Christi in Texas through Houston, New Orleans, the lower Mississippi Valley, Atlanta metro and mid-Atlantic in a Level 2 out of 4 risk of flash flooding on Wednesday.

A Level 3 out of 4 risk was also highlighted for areas of the Texas and Louisiana coasts on Wednesday.