EXCLUSIVE Stunning red state suburb explodes as thousands flock there for the perfect life
Comprising a sprawling network of pretty villages, The Woodlands expanded by almost nine percent between 2020 and 2025 to a population of 124,500 people.
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Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Major US airports ground all flights
An impending tropical storm in the Gulf has set off a chain reaction of ground stops and lengthy delays at major airports along the entire East Coast. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has extended multiple ground stops at airports in New York, Florida, and Washington DC. More than a dozen major airports are currently stuck in ground delays which are snarling airport traffic and delaying flights by up to three hours in some cities. AccuWeather is forecasting widespread tropical downpours in Florida this week, which have already delayed or grounded flights at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Orlando International Airport, and Miami International Airport. The rainfall forecasted along the entire East Coast has led to flight delays at Philadelphia International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and New Jersey's Teterboro Airport as well. 'Flight to Vegas got delayed by three hours, I hate airports,' one frustrated passenger posted on X Monday afternoon. 'My flight is delayed by like five hours and I'm already feeling so sick... I just want today to [be] over,' another exhausted traveler added. Countless fellow travelers have been posting their horror stories on social media Monday as Flight Aware said that at least 7,300 flights in to and out of the US have been delayed as of 5:20pm ET. Federal travel officials have warned that ground delays at these East Coast airports will stay in effect until at least 10pm, with several stretching overnight, including in New York and Philadelphia. AccuWeather warned that Americans along the East Coast should expect more stormy weather for the rest of the week as a tropical rainstorm sweeps across the Florida Peninsula. The storm is projected to make landfall Tuesday before barreling into the Gulf and bringing several inches of rain to Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana on Wednesday. Flights out of Miami have been delayed by more than 190 minutes (three hours and 10 minutes) Monday evening. Departing flights in Fort Lauderdale are delayed for more than two hours. 'A cold front slowly approaching the East Coast will spark showers and storms across the East on Monday. Ample moisture in place will also ramp up the risks for flooding and locally severe thunderstorms,' the AccuWeather team added in a statement Monday morning. The approaching storm has only led to early afternoon delays on Monday getting extended into the evening as the thunderstorms and rain move in throughout the country. Airports like Philadelphia International Airport, which started with only a ground delay, were forced to ground all flights around 5pm, with ground stop orders until at least 5:45pm. As of 5:30pm, more than 1,700 flights throughout the US have been cancelled. Many of them were a result of the tropical storm moving in. The founder of flight alert service Dollar Flight Club, Jesse Neugarten, recently advised travelers to start planning their cancellation backup plans before airlines even make that frustrating announcement. 'If the plane that's supposed to become your flight is delayed in another city, you'll often see the writing on the wall before the airline officially tells you,' Neugarten told Travel + Leisure in June. He added that flyers should start checking their airline's app for rebooking options before they even get out of line to board the plane or return to the gate because of poor weather. Additionally, trying to call the airline's customer service team which handles flights in other countries, like Canada or the UK, may help you cut the hold time dramatically. Despite handling bookings for other nations, these customer service reps may still be able to help existing customers rebook a cancelled flight.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
What to know about the Grand Canyon as wildfires burn, claiming a historic lodge
Nearly 5 million people visited the Grand Canyon last year, from day trippers and campers to people sleeping overnight in historic lodges and cabins. This year will be different, at least for one portion of the park. A wildfire has torn through a historic lodge and ended the season for the canyon's North Rim, a place where visitors could find less bustle in one of the country's most iconic national parks. As firefighters continue to fight the blaze, here's what to know about Grand Canyon National Park. Bigger than Rhode Island The Colorado River cuts through Grand Canyon National Park for about 278 miles (447 kilometers), pushing across northwestern Arizona. The eastern boundary is near the state's northern border with Utah, while the western edge is near Nevada. Grand Canyon National Park is about 1,900 square miles (nearly 5,000 square kilometers), according to the National Park Service, which makes it bigger than Rhode Island. The park is unique because of its canyon walls, which boast horizontal layers of red, orange and purple rock. The average depth of the iconic formation is about a mile (1.6 kilometers), while the average width is about 10 miles (16 kilometers). 'Four Empire State Buildings stacked one atop the other would not reach the rim,' Lance Newman wrote in the introduction to the 2011 book, 'The Grand Canyon Reader.' The north and south rims Within the park are the north and south rims, which are the primary travel destinations because of their accessibility. The North Rim receives 10% of park visitors and is known for more quiet and solitude, according to the park service. It's open from mid-May to mid-October because of the snow. But the wildfires have closed it for the rest of the season, destroying a historic lodge and dozens of cabins. The South Rim is open all year. It's more bustling and boasts a historic district, which dates to when the first steam-powered train arrived in 1901. A car trip between the rims takes five hours, according to the park service. That's because there's only one way across the Colorado River by vehicle, and its 137 miles (231 kilometers) from the South Rim Village. Hiking between rims is a shorter distance, 21 miles (34 kilometers), though by no means easy. It includes crossing the river on a narrow foot bridge 70 feet (21 meters) above the water. Unexplored by Europeans for 235 years The Grand Canyon was formed with the shifting of tectonic plates, which lifted layers of rock into a high and relatively flat plateau, according to the park service. About 5 million to 6 million years ago, the Colorado River began to carve its way downward, slowly deepening and widening the gorge. The oldest human artifacts in the area date to about 12,000 years ago, when small bands of people hunted bison, the park service said. There were gradual shifts to agriculture, the building of pueblos and the development of trade routes. Today, 11 tribes have historic connections to the canyon, including the Hopi and the Diné (Navajo). The Spanish were the first Europeans to the see the Grand Canyon in 1540, according to the park service. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his Spanish army were searching for fabled cities of gold. 'The Hopi were able to fool the Spaniards into thinking that the area was an impenetrable wasteland and was not navigable anyway,' the park service wrote on its website, adding that the canyon 'was left unexplored by Europeans for 235 years.' In the late 1850s, an Army lieutenant explored the Grand Canyon in search of a viable trade route, the park service said. Joseph Christmas Ives described it as 'altogether valueless" and predicted it 'shall be forever unvisited.' The Grand Canyon began to draw much more interest after expeditions in 1869 and 1871 by geologist John Wesley Powell. Powell described rock layers in the canyon's towering walls: "creamy orange above, then bright vermilion, and below, purple and chocolate beds, with green and yellow sands.' 'You cannot improve on it' As the years went on, more explorers arrived by boat, on foot and on horseback, often with the help of Native American guides. Wealthy travelers came by stagecoach from Flagstaff to the South Rim in the 1880s. After the arrival of trains, the automobile became the more popular mode of travel in the 1930s. Early entrepreneurs charged $1 to hike down the Bright Angel Trail used by the Havasupai people whose current-day reservation lies in the depths of the Grand Canyon. President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the park in 1919 but Teddy Roosevelt is credited for its early preservation as a game reserve and a national monument. He famously said: 'Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.'
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
'Heart-breaking': Locals devastated by loss of Grand Canyon Lodge
Davy Crockett watched from miles away as the first small plumes of smoke began to rise in the Grand Canyon's North Rim. It was not long before the small plumes transformed into huge flames. Mr Crockett, vice-president of the non-profit Grand Canyon Historical Society, went to bed but worries kept him up. The historic Grand Canyon Lodge, with its panoramic views of one of the natural wonders of the world, was in the path of those Sunday, park officials confirmed the beloved lodge was destroyed in raging wildfires."It broke my heart," said Mr Crockett. "I was devastated."Hundreds of people are sharing his sadness and posting tributes on social media to the stone lodge perched at 8,000 feet (2,438m), the only accommodation available within the national park's North was "stunning, a balm for my weary soul", one person wrote. "Heartbroken to hear the historic lodge, visitor center and more were destroyed." Many of the dozens of cabins at the lodge were also lost in the Dragon Bravo Fire, which has burned over 5,000 acres. Honeymooners, hikers and runners all treasured the lodge and its views, historians and locals said. Karne Snickers has led tours in the North Rim for 24 years. She said the area sees fewer tourists than the South Rim because the view in parts is slightly obscured by "majestic" ponderosa it was clear on the deck of the Grand Canyon Lodge, she said. "It's very spiritual there," she said. "Sitting on the deck of that lodge, there isn't one dry eye from any trip that I've ever done when you turn away and have to go back to the van." The destruction of the lodge has been like "losing an old friend"."I shed many tears yesterday," Ms Snickers 61-year-old tour guide was there just before the fires began, when a lightning strike ignited a blaze on 4 July that officials initially thought would be containable. But after the winds picked up, the fire exploded, Mr Crockett said. Firefighters were there to protect the lodge, but when a water treatment plant burned down and released toxic chlorine gas into the air, they had to evacuate. Along with the lodge, much of the surrounding nature has been lost too, including 400 year-old trees. Ms Snickers believes one large tree she would have hikers on her tours hug is no longer there. "Much of the beauty is gone," Mr Crockett said. "It'll take decades for things to grow back." This was the second time the lodge burned down. A version that opened in 1928, designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, was lost four years later from a fire that started in its a new structure during the Great Depression took years and perseverance, repurposing much of the original building's stonework and lumber.A smaller, temporary lodge that housed construction workers also burned down for unknown reasons, according to Mr a massive snowstorm dropped 12 feet of snow in the area one winter, cutting the workers and their families off from food and the outside world for weeks, he said. Finally, some of the workers hiked down to the trailhead in snow shoes to call for help, bringing in snow plows to rescue the rest of the group, Mr Crockett the lodge opened once again, in 1938, it became a "summer getaway that people have just cherished over the years", he said. Lodge guests might encounter an occasional buffalo while walking beside tall pine trees. Inside, they could take in views from the massive windows in the lodge's sun room, or from their table in the dining room, with its high ceiling that was crossed with ponderosa beams. Park officials have yet to say whether they plan to rebuild the iconic lodge, but many visitors and locals are holding out hope. "We have to rebuild this place," Ms Snickers said. "It's going to take time, but it needs to come back. It was a part of history."
