What happened at Fort Lauderdale airport and what does it mean for your flight?

All is clear at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, but that doesn’t mean things are back to normal.

Traffic was backed up into morning rush hour and your flight may be delayed. But the airport says operations are slowly resuming.

Police early Thursday evacuated the Broward airport and shut down all roads leading to it for a “law enforcement investigation” outside two terminals.

According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, at about 1:10 a.m. Thursday, deputies at the airport were alerted to suspicious wires found in a vehicle parked on the upper level of the airport. After investigating, the sheriff’s office bomb squad determined that the wires were not a threat.

By 7:30 a.m., entrance roadways to the airport reopened to all traffic, “and operations are gradually returning to normal following an earlier security incident outside of Terminals 2 and 3,” according to an FLL alert.

What you should do

▪ Call your airline to check whether your flight has been delayed.

▪ Avoid Interstate 95 near I-595, especially if you’re not going to the airport. Take 441, west of the airport, as an alternative.

▪ Avoid the U.S. 1 and Griffin Road area.

“Please be patient as FLL employees, including TSA and CBP personnel, are allowed back into the airport to resume operations,” FLL said in a statement released by Broward County Aviation Department spokeswoman Arlene Satchell. “Travelers are advised to check with their airline for updated flight information before heading to FLL. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding during this time as we work to get everyone safely to their final destinations.”

Passengers can also check their flight status online. Dozens of flights to destinations including New York, Los Angeles, San Juan, Washington and others on airlines including United, Spirit, Copa, Delta and Southwest, among them, were listed as delayed.

Though many delays remain for flights scheduled to depart after 10 a.m., the later in the morning or afternoon your flight is scheduled the more likely it is to take off on time, according to the airport’s flight status indicator.

Some flights were canceled.

Flight Aware also lets users plug in their flight number or destination to check on flight status.

Traffic, social media reaction

In addition to the backups, people on their way to the airport were sitting on sidewalks after abandoning their idle Uber rides.

Police radio transmissions indicated a possible suspicious package on airport grounds and that the airport was evacuated.

People trying to get to the airport, for flights or for work, took to social media in the early hours.

Susan Slavicek, a passenger on Southwest Airlines, couldn’t understand why her 10:45 a.m. flight out of FLL was still marked “on time” despite the traffic mess at the airport.

“FLL closed with bomb threat, roads around airport closed, and you still have my 10:45 flight as ‘on time?’ Get real!” she posted on Facebook and Twitter around 6:45 a.m.

A representative from Southwest Air replied, “We will continue to monitor the situation in FLL and will notify all customers with flight updates as soon as possible.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2021 at 5:47 AM.