A sinkhole at one of the country’s busiest hubs grounded half of its runway capacity Wednesday, snarling Northeast air travel as storm clouds rolled in.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey crews discovered the sinkhole at LaGuardia Airport around 11 a.m. during a routine morning sweep of the airfield, the airport said in a statement posted on X. The cavity sat near Runway 4/22, and officials immediately shut down the strip while emergency construction and engineering crews moved to the scene. With just two runways serving the facility, all takeoffs and landings shifted to Runway 13/31, CBS News reported. (RELATED: Federal Officials Step In To Cut Flights At Airport Adding More And More Amid Extreme Delays)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to keep Runway 4/22 closed until 6 a.m. Thursday, ABC News reported. Arriving flights faced ground delays averaging 98 minutes by mid-afternoon. Tracking service FlightAware logged 197 cancellations and 168 delays in and out of LaGuardia by that point in the day.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch covering New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut ran from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, Fox 5 New York reported. No injuries were tied to the sinkhole.

The closure hit the same strip of asphalt where Air Canada Flight 8646 slammed into a Port Authority fire truck on March 22, killing both pilots and injuring dozens, Newsweek reported. A separate sinkhole opened on the Long Island Expressway on May 14, raising questions about ground stability across the region.

Air traffic control audio captured the exchange between a pilot and ground controller as crews responded. “There’s a sinkhole,” the controller said, according to ABC News, citing ATC.com audio. Engineers continued evaluating the size and cause of the cavity along with any structural threat to the runway, Newsweek reported. Travelers should expect continued delays through Wednesday evening.