MIAMI – Hurricane Florence prompted airlines to cancel at least 1,200 flights that were scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and disrupted cruise ship itineraries.
According to Flight Aware, about 80 percent of the flights in the coastal region of the Carolinas were canceled, as the Category 2 storm approached.
American Airlines, United, Delta, JetBlue and Spirit are among the airlines offering changes without charging a fee to customers affected by the hurricane.
Airlines had canceled at least seven flights out of Miami International Airport and nine flights out of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as of Thursday afternoon.
IN SPACE - SEPTEMBER 14: In this NOAA satellite handout image , shows Hurricane Florence as it made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina on September 14, 2018. The National Hurricane Center reported Florence had sustained winds of 90 mph at landfall and was moving slowly westward at 6 mph. (Photo by NOAA via Getty Images)
There were travel disruptions at sea. A Norwegian cruise ship that departed from New York City, but could not make its scheduled stop at Nassau, was forced to return to the coast to avoid the storm.
Some 1.7 million people were under mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders.
Companies were also evacuating ships and planes. Authorities expect the storm to cause flooding in the South Carolina-North Carolina region with as much as 13 feet of water of storm surge. Over the next seven days, authorities expect the Carolinas to get 40 inches of rainfall in isolated areas.
MYRTLE BEACH, SC - SEPTEMBER 12: Doug Lewis (L) and Chris Williams use plywood with the words 'Looters will be shot' to cover the windows of Knuckleheads bar as they try to protect the business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence on September 12, 2018 in Myrtle Beach, United States. Hurricane Florence is expected on Friday possibly as a category 4 storm along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coastline. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
