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Unexploded WWII Bomb Closes London City Airport

FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.
FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.
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Unexploded WWII Bomb Closes London City Airport

FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.
FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.

London City Airport says all flights in and out have been canceled for Monday after an unexploded World War II-era bomb was found nearby in the River Thames at King George V Dock.

Police said the ordnance was found during work at the airport on Sunday and they set up a 200-metre exclusion zone, adding that all properties within the zone had been evacuated and a number of roads were cordoned off.

London's Metropolitan Police and Royal Navy are cooperating to remove the bomb.

Robert Sinclair, CEO of London City Airport, the city’s fifth biggest and the most central, said: “The airport is cooperating fully with the Met Police and Royal Navy and working hard to safely remove the device and resolve the situation as quickly as possible,” Reuters reported.

British Airways said it was trying to minimize disruption for passengers after the airport’s closure.

“We are rebooking customers due to travel today onto alternative flights or offering refunds for those who no longer wish to travel,” the airline said in a statement.

London was heavily bombed during the Nazi German air attacks of September 1940 to May 1941, according to AFP.

London City Airport opened in 1987 in the disused docklands.

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Hurricane Milton Marches Across Central Florida, Destroying Homes

A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
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Hurricane Milton Marches Across Central Florida, Destroying Homes

A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

Hurricane Milton marched across central Florida on Thursday after making landfall on the state's west coast hours earlier, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to nearly 2 million customers.
The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT) on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour (195 kph) near Siesta Key, the US National Hurricane Center said.
By 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), wind speeds had reduced to 105 mph (165 kph), dropping Milton to a Category 2 hurricane, nonetheless still considered extremely dangerous. The eye of the storm was 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Orlando in the center of the state.
A flash flood emergency was in effect for the Tampa Bay area including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the hurricane center said, with St. Petersburg already receiving 16.6 inches (422 mm) of rain on Wednesday.
The eye of the storm landed in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which is home to more than 3 million people.
Governor Ron DeSantis said he hoped Tampa Bay, once seen as the potential bull's eye, could dodge major damage and that the worst of the predicted storm surge could be avoided thanks to the landfall coming before the high tide. Forecasters said seawater could still rise as high as 13 feet (4 meters).
DeSantis reported Milton had also spawned at least 19 tornadoes caused damage in numerous counties, destroying around 125 homes, most of them mobile homes.
"At this point, it's too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to shelter in place and just hunker down," DeSantis said upon announcing the landfall.
At least two deaths were reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on the eastern coast of Florida, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson. His department did not immediately respond to a request for details.
Pearson estimated 100 homes were destroyed in the county where some 17 tornadoes touched down, NBC said.
More than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storm was expected to cross the Florida peninsula overnight and emerge into the Atlantic, still with hurricane force, on Thursday.
Once past Florida, it should weaken over the western Atlantic, possibly dropping below hurricane strength but still posing a storm-surge danger on the state's Atlantic Coast.
In a state already battered by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, as many as two million people were ordered to evacuate, and millions more live in the projected path of the storm.
Much of the southern US experienced the deadly force of Hurricane Helene as it cut a swath of devastation through Florida and several other states. Both storms are expected to cause billions of dollars in damage.
ZOO ANIMALS PROTECTED
While human evacuees jammed the highways and created gasoline shortages, animals including African elephants, Caribbean flamingos and pygmy hippos were riding out the storm at Tampa's zoo.
Nearly a quarter of Florida's gasoline stations were out of fuel on Wednesday afternoon.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency had moved millions of liters (gallons) of water, millions of meals and other supplies and personnel into the area. None of the additional aid will detract from recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene, the agency's administrator, Deanne Criswell, said earlier on Wednesday.
Trucks have been running 24 hours a day to clear mounds of debris left behind by Helene before Milton potentially turned them into dangerous projectiles, DeSantis said.
About 9,000 National Guard personnel were deployed in Florida, ready to assist recovery efforts, as were 50,000 electricity grid workers in anticipating of widespread power outages, DeSantis said.
Search-and-rescue teams were prepared to head out as soon as the storm passes, working through the night if needed, DeSantis said.
"It's going to mean pretty much all the rescues are going to be done in the dark, in the middle of the night, but that's fine. They're going to do that," DeSantis said.