Summer storms ground flights and force delays, cancellations at RDU

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Summer storms grounded hundreds of flights in the northeast and impacted things at RDU.

According to Flight Aware, 21 flights were canceled and 145 delayed

"I was supposed to go at 10 p.m.," said Sam Grutter. "It's delayed to 11:51."

Grutter's flight with Frontier to Orlando will likely leave even later. He is supposed to deliver a speech at a computer science convention on Saturday and says he's watching the clock closely.

"Fortunately, my speech is well-prepared, but I should be well-rested as well, " said Grutter.

Rest is what Tyrone Muldrow will have to do when he lands in Colorado. His flight is delayed by two hours. He won't get in until 1:00 AM, which changes his plans to celebrate his 25th birthday

"I was planning on going out as soon as I landed, but I won't get in til late. So I had to push plans back to the next day," said Muldrow.

He didn't know his flight was delayed until he arrived at the airport from Fort Liberty.

"I'm military, so I'm used to stuff being pushed left and right and I adjust real easy. But just a little bit, because, I was ready to go out there and just hit the clubs and all that," he said.

Storms rolled through the Triangle around 6 p.m. Friday evening.

The greatest delays impacting RDU were flights coming or going to New York City where storms touched down earlier in the day. Binay Krishna and his family flew in from LaGuardia to celebrate Father's Day.

"We kept getting delayed, but, you know, we just stayed at home until we finally figured that we had a chance to leave, and luckily, we made it," he said. "If we didn't come it would be messed up."

From June to August 2022 about 45,000 flights were delayed or cancelled. Passengers are hoping not to have a repeat of last summer.