Severe storms resulting to lightning has struck at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, according to WVEC.
Operations at BWI's air traffic control tower have been temporarily halted due to a possible lightning strike, so flights have been grounded, impacting flights at Norfolk International Airport. The incident resulted to injuring one person and shutting down the airport for nearly three hours.
A bolt struck the tower about 2:30 p.m., shocking a controller as he was flipping a switch to turn on a generator that powers backup runway lights, said John Dunkerly, president of BWI's chapter of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
The controller, whom he declined to identify, fell to his knees and experienced numbness in his left arm and leg, Dunkerly said. He has recovered since and was released from the hospital Thursday evening. To avoid the risk of other injuries, the tower was shut down, prompting airport officials to ground all departures and divert all incoming flights.
One passenger, Lauren Berry tweeted using her account, saying, "It's so chaotic here in Norfolk airport because of #BWI shutting down. Can't even imagine what it is like there! #IjustWannaGoToFlorida.
Officials at the airport confirmed that two flights have been affected by the lightning strike, particularly, Flight #1302 departing at 4:25 p.m. and Flight #3904 arriving at 6:30 p.m. Both flights were cancelled.
Later in the afternoon a tweet was sent out using BWI Marshall Airport's Twitter account: "BWI air traffic control tower ops temporarily suspended due to possible local lightning strike. Airline flight ops are temporarily suspended."
However, at around 4:45 in the afternoon, another tweet was sent out using the same account: "BWI Marshall Airport is Open. Two runways remain closed but traffic is moving."
