Graphic created by the TSA, top 10 travel days in TSA history. (TSA)
(NEW YORK) — As travelers return home from Thanksgiving holiday travel, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says Sunday was its busiest day in history, with the agency screening over 3.1 million people through its security checkpoints at airports nationwide.
The Nov. 30 numbers beat the previous record of 3.09 million air travelers screened, which was set on Sunday, June 22. All of the TSA’s top-10 busiest air travel days have exceeded 3 million travelers and have occurred since July 2024, with eight out of the 10 days occurring this year, according to the TSA.
Over 300 flights have been cancelled in the U.S. as of early Monday afternoon and more than 3,300 delayed as a new winter storm moves across the country from Kansas to Maine through Tuesday. The storm is expected to bring between two to four inches of snow Monday afternoon from Kansas to Indiana as it makes its way to Michigan and Ohio later in the evening.
Over half a foot of snow is expected from northern Pennsylvania to central Maine as the storm makes its way to the Northeast overnight and into Tuesday.
For those driving back home from the holiday weekend Monday, the best time to hit the roads is after 8 p.m. to avoid traffic, according to Inrix, a provider of transportation data and insights.
(NEW YORK) — In the aftermath of a destructive typhoon, historic floodwaters have destroyed remote communities across western Alaska, causing hundreds of evacuations that could continue for days, officials said.
“This is still a very much fluid situation; we are still in the process of evacuating hundreds of people from the affected towns,” Michelle Torres, the outreach branch chief for the state of Alaska, told ABC News on Thursday.
These devastating floods were fueled by remnants of Typhoon Halong, which originated in the northern Philippine Sea on Oct. 5. This typhoon brought the massive flooding to these western regions of Alaska on Saturday night into Sunday, sweeping across the west coast of the state on Monday and dumping more than 6 feet of water in some areas. Along with coastal flooding, wind gusts reached 50 to 100 mph in some of the 49 communities affected.
Remote, coastal towns have been hit the hardest by the floods, including Kipnuk, Alaska, which is about 500 miles from Anchorage.
So far, 264 people were evacuated on Thursday and 211 on Wednesday from these impacted communities by the Alaska National Guard, according to Jeremy Zidek from the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The evacuations of these flooded-out, smaller communities will continue “for days” as there are likely hundreds left to be evacuated, Zidek said. Both local agencies and private charters are being used for the evacuations, Zidek said.
At least one person has died from these floods, with two people remaining missing, officials said. But, officials said there is currently no concern that additional people may be missing.
Photos from the Alaska National Guard show around 300 displaced individuals taking shelter in a C-17 aircraft.
“Through it all, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors, evacuating those displaced, flying supplies and lending a helping hand wherever it’s needed most,” the Alaska National Guard said in a statement on Friday.
At least 2,000 people from rural Alaska have been displaced, according to the Alaska Community Foundation.
“Alaskans have already come together to raise more than $1 million in support – and the fund is still growing,” the Alaska Community Foundation said in a news release.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday that the U.S. Coast Guard has rescued 38 people from the flood and helped “evacuate 28 people from a temporary shelter.”
“The Coast Guard continues to support the state of Alaska’s response efforts in impacted communities,” Noem said in a post on X on Thursday.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced on Thursday that he signed an application for a Presidential Disaster Declaration, asking President Donald Trump to “declare a major disaster for Alaska” as a result of this storm.
Dunleavy previously declared a state of emergency for “all areas impacted or threatened by these storms.”
Alaska previously experienced major flooding in 2023 when a glacier lake outburst occurred on the Mendenhall Glacier, located about 12 miles north of Juneau, Alaska. The 2023 flooding destroyed homes situated along the river, with decades’ worth of erosion happening in one weekend, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, in a hearing Wednesday, is set to address how he will proceed with the early stages of contempt proceedings into whether Trump administration officials violated a court order by deporting hundreds of men to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act in March.
The Trump administration invoked the AEA — an 18th-century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.
Boasberg’s earlier finding that the Trump administration likely acted in contempt was halted for months after an appeals court issued an emergency stay. While a federal appeals court on Friday declined to reinstate Boasberg’s original order, the ruling allows him to move forward with his fact-finding inquiry.
Attorneys representing the men sent to El Salvador will also argue for a preliminary injunction to allow them to contest their AEA designation.
“Class members are still recovering from the serious harm, including trauma, they experienced at CECOT,” the ACLU said in a recent court filing.
In response to the motion for a preliminary injunction, attorneys for the Department of Justice argue that the Venezuelans’ release from El Salvador “has further undermined their claims.”
“Petitioners have not shown that they suffer any ongoing injury traceable to Respondents, for they are apparently at liberty in their home country, and any ongoing threats to their health and safety come from third parties not before this Court,” DOJ attorneys said.
