The US Open suffered inclement weather in an unusually violent way on Wednesday. A tornado hitting the New York area forced, around 10:00 p.m. local time, to the evacuation of the runway Louis Armstrong, the second largest in the tournament, despite the fact that it has a retractable roof. Wind and rain filtered through the uncovered upper parts of the stadium, on the fringes of that roof, and the game played by South African Kevin Anderson and Diego Schwartzman could not continue. At that time, the match was 30-15 for Anderson in the second game of the second set, with an overall advantage for the Argentine by 7-6 (4) and 1-0. Later it was announced that the duel would be played after the Mannarino-Tsitsipas, at the Arthur Ashe, fully covered and without incident, and that the Kerber-Kalinina, which closed the day at the Louis Armstrong, went to the Thursday calendar.
The videos of some fans who were present on the track at the time of the suspension show the virulence of the storm and the damage it caused on the track. The US Open organization sent email notices to accredited journalists warning of the danger of the storm. “From now until 11 pm, the region is currently under tornado watch with potential lightning less than 12 miles from the facility. Winds of 30 miles per hour (48 km / h) are expected with gusts of up to 40 miles per hour (65 km / h). We are tracking the conditions and will provide further updates as needed. We encourage everyone to exercise caution when traveling, “the statement read, before what happened.
Then the update came: “Keep in mind that we expect the tornado threat to subside in the next 20 minutes and wind conditions to decrease at that time as well. Stay indoors or seek shelter until the severe weather has passed.” Thus, many fans, journalists, players and workers were unable to leave a Billie Jean King National Tennis Center flooded in some areas while waiting for the tornado to pass and the downpour to subside. Because, in addition, bus and train services were suspended.
Floods and chaos in the city
The tornado did a lot of damage in New York City and surroundings, in all neighborhoods, also in Manhattan, where there were floods and situations of certain chaos, for example, in the stations of metro, whose transit was suspended. Many cars were also practically submerged on the ring roads. Fortunately, much better weather is expected for Thursday's session.