Nor'easter High Winds Collapse Construction Wall

T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island closed briefly Monday morning after strong winds collapsed a temporary construction wall near a security checkpoint.
 
Patti Goldstein, PVD spokeswoman, said the airport reopened at 12:30 Monday afternoon. Roads to the airport were reopened about 12:15 p.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.
 
Before noon today, 76 flights had been canceled -- 25 arriving and 51 departing, Goldstein said.
 
Strong winds blew down the wall about 2:30 am Monday prompting the unusual action of completely closing the state's main airport, according to the Rhode Island News. Airport staff estimated wind speeds at 50 to 60 mph. The winds were produced by the nor'easter that struck the area over the weekend -- that snagged operations at airports throughout New England.

The wall was constructed of steel beams, drywall and yellow fiberglass insulation, said Mark Brewer, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, and was around 100 feet long by about 30 feet high. When it came down, airport officials "knew immediately" they'd have to close Green, he said.

Brewer said the wall's collapse occurred at a very inopportune time: the first weekday of Rhode Island public school vacation.  Apparently, all flights scheduled to take off this morning was oversold and "it will take a number of days" before all passengers have been rebooked.

September 11, 2001 is the only other time the airport has been closed, Brewer said.

"Every accommodation will be made to take care of the passengers, and with regard to those who missed their flights today, our airlines will do everything they can to rebook those flights," Goldstein said.

It's unclear what, if any, effect this incident will have on the airport's $83 million renovation project, said Goldstein.

Additional construction workers were brought in to supplement the Skanska Construction crews already at the airport when the wall collapsed and rebuilt the wall Monday morning.

FMI: www.pvdairport.com/main.aspx?sec_id=19