The runways at Mathis Field, San Angelo’s airport, were damaged Monday night and early Tuesday morning by lightning strikes, said Airport Manager Luis Elguezabal.
Four lightning strikes created sizable potholes and crews had to patch the holes before opening the airfield for business yesterday. Elguezabal did not specify which runways were damaged. Mathis has three landing runways, the north-south and largest runway, 18/36; the instrument runway 3/21; and the seldom used narrow runway, 9/27.
“When lightning strikes the runway, it creates a large pothole, about 20 inches in diameter,” he said. But that’s not all that can be damaged. The electricity from the strike enters the ground and comes out around the pothole creating multiple pockmarks, he said.
In addition to the damage to the runways, Elguezabal said that the terminal building and the airport’s administration offices sustained damage from water. The restaurant also fell victim to water damage.
Above: Looking towards the west wall, under construction, inside the terminal building. By Tuesday afternoon, airport staff had cleared out the water. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
“If it’s a regular rain, it’s no problem. But Monday night was not a regular rain,” Elguezabal said.
The airport closed a 12:30 a.m. early Tuesday morning well after the last American Eagle flight bound for San Angelo diverted into Abilene. “We don’t have a large staff, but we all came in here at around 3:30 a.m. and got the water out of the terminal, hoping to have the airport open for business for the 5:15 am. Departure,” Elguezabal said.
Above: Inside the terminal, looking towards the baggage claim area. The terminal was cleared of water earlier Tuesday. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
Elguezabal is working with the city’s risk managers to assess the damage to the roof of the terminal building. It didn’t help the situation to have the construction ongoing in the front of the structure.
The 5:15 a.m. flight was eventually cancelled, but for Elguezabal and his crew, they were ready.
Update 11:55 a.m.
The City of San Angelo relayed this information to us:
"San Angelo Regional Airport’s administrative offices remain closed today as the cleanup from the flood damage sustained Monday night and Tuesday morning continues. There are no interruptions in flights."
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"It didn’t help the situation to have the construction ongoing in the front of the structure". It almost seems that the DFW airport was completed in a shorter time span than any of the "ongoing construction" at tiny Mathis field. How long has it been now since this construction project has been going on, it seems like a decade. Time to find a new construction firm that does more than just toss up some black plastic sheeting to hide their lack of progress on a job site.
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Permalink"It didn’t help the situation to have the construction ongoing in the front of the structure." Construction in the front of the building has nothing to do with engineering design flaws in the back of the building and on the tarmac. Why was the storm drain design inadequate? Why was water collected on the tarmac channeled against the building? That's a civil engineer error, not a construction company error. Construction company did not design the storm drain, did not design the tarmac.
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