This past week Long Island experienced one of its largest snowstorms with a record breaking 27.5 inches in Westhampton Beach. The storm not only cancelled school, but also cancelled over 6,000 flights in New York and New Jersey.
Students who had flights planned for Sunday night, February 22nd were then cancelled due to the blizzard which lasted until Monday and continued into Tuesday and Wednesday causing two snow days and one delayed opening.
Sophomores Ryan Meadows spent February break in Florida. Ryan was planning on coming home from Orlando on Sunday and had to stay four extra days. He explained, “Sunday’s flight got cancelled, then Tuesday flight got cancelled, and then I came home Thursday night.” Due to these conflicts his family had to move to four different resorts in the area.
Sophomore Winter Hinck also faced the same issue in Florida. She stated, “I was stuck in Florida for an extra three days after my Tuesday night flight was cancelled due to the snowstorm. Fortunately I was able to stay at my grandparent’s house while waiting to get a flight back home on Friday night.”
However, students who traveled to Mexico were stuck for weather and issues at the Puerto Vallarta airport in relation to the Mexican Cartel.
On February 22nd the Mexican army shot and killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, one of the leaders of the cartel and the most wanted drug lord in both Mexico and the United States. This death caused immense backlash from members of the cartel in Mexico. This led to the severe disruption of the Puerto Vallarta airport with a mass cancellation of flights.
Sophomore Benny Presutti gave his personal experience of being stuck in Mexico during the unrest. For him and his family this wasn’t just a lucky extended vacation. He said “my family was fully packed and waiting for our car to the airport when I got word that it was on fire and all flights were canceled.
Soon after, he checked social media and learned that it was the cartels doing. Benny said, “From our hotel we could see smoke from all around the city.”
Thankfully, everyone arrived home safely, and if we are lucky, we have gotten all the snow out of the way and we will not have any travel issues over Spring Break! Safe travels, WHB.
