In the wake of the oncoming Hurricane Milton, Miami International Airport, recently experienced another scare when it was evacuated earlier today.
Security Concern
A police investigation prompted the evacuation of two concourses at Miami International Airport following reports of a "suspicious item."
Miami-Dade Police reported that the investigation occurred in the airport's South Terminal, which consists of Concourses H and J. The suspicious item was an unattended bag in the departures area of the terminal. Despite this, the terminal's airside and landside sections were evacuated.
As of 5:30 pm Eastern Time, the all-clear has been given, and operations have resumed at these concourses.
Miami's South Terminal is the airport's main non-OneWorld international terminal. Delta Air Lines and various non-OneWorld international airlines operate from here.
Because of the evacuation, multiple flights departing Monday afternoon were delayed for around two hours. These included various Delta departures along flights from Lufthansa, Aeromexico, Viva Aerobus, Avianca, and TAP Air Portugal.
Due to the incident, some Delta arrivals into Miami were delayed from their departure airports. These included a flight from New York (JFK) and one from Orlando (MCO).
It has yet to be disclosed whose bag was left unattended, furthermore, what was found in the bag needed to be specified.
Oncoming Hurricane
Days ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall, multiple airports in Florida are experiencing flight cancellations as they fall under mandatory evacuation zones.
Both major airports in the Tampa Bay area, St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE) and Tampa International (TPA) have announced cancelations. St. Petersburg would cancel all flights for Wednesday and Thursday, while Tama International would suspend operations by 9 am on Tuesday.
Hurricane Milton is expected to maintain hurricane status as it moves into Florida and across the Atlantic coast. More flight delays or cancelations are expected.
Currently, Eastern and Southern Florida airports have not announced any major disruptions. These include Jacksonville (JAX), Orlando International (MCO), West Palm Beach (PBI), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), and Miami International (MIA).
All of the airports above are monitoring the hurricane as it nears Florida.