Weather affects vacation travel as storms hit parts of the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, South

Severe weather hit parts of the Pacific Northwest Thursday as forecasts showed a resurgence of heavy rain for a handful of southern and Midwestern states. The spate of storms put a damper on travel plans after the Christmas holiday and contributed to hundreds of flight cancellations nationwide.

A series of thunderstorms caused the earth stops at both Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field on Thursday afternoon. In the middle of what AAA predicted set to be the busiest holiday travel season on record, there were at least 264 flight cancellations out of DFW Thursday night, accounting for 22% of all cancellations nationwide, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. An additional 550 flights from DFW were delayed, accounting for 46% of all delays nationwide.

“We have a connecting flight here from DFW to Tokyo for our second anniversary and it’s been delayed 12 times and the communication has been poor,” Latoyia Pugh told CBS News.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott activated the state’s emergency plan in preparation for the weather Thursday afternoon.

“Texas is prepared to deploy all necessary resources to help local officials respond to severe weather threats,” Abbott said in a statement. “As Texans and out-of-state visitors begin to travel after the Christmas holidays, it is critical that everyone regularly monitor road conditions, create an emergency plan and follow the guidance of state and local officials.”

At least one suspected tornado touched down near El Campo, Texas, Thursday night, about 80 miles southwest of Houston. The most potent storms covered a region from Shreveport, Louisiana, south to Beaumont, Texas, according to CBS News senior national weather correspondent Rob Marciano.

Earlier, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth had issued various watches and warnings for flash flooding, dense fog, tornadoes and thunderstorms in various parts of the region Thursday morning. All tornado watches and warnings had been canceled Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Oregon and Washington were expected to see moderate to heavy rainfall and a few thunderstorms Thursday, resulting in up to 3 inches of scattered flooding across the area and potentially some flooding in places where the rain falls quickly, according to a National Weather Service advisory. Mountain snow, high winds and dangerous surf were also expected.

At one point Thursday morning, nearly 60,000 customers were without power in Washington and Oregon, according to the outage tracker FindEnergy.com. On Thursday evening, however, the number was down to around 14,600 customers.

This is the latest iteration in a series of storms caused by an atmospheric river currently affecting the west coast. The initial round in the northwest is expected to move inland Thursday afternoon, meteorologists said, offering the region a brief reprieve before another round of extreme weather arrives Thursday night in many of the same areas. The coming period is expected to bring another inch or two of precipitation Friday morning.

High wind warnings were also issued for coastal areas in Oregon and Washington. Forecasters in Medford, Oregon, had warned Thursday morning that “damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines.”

The National Weather Service in Seattle shared similar warnings overnight Wednesday into Thursday, noting that gusts in the area could top out at about 60 mph for coastal areas and reach up to 55 mph around Puget Sound. Portland meteorologists reported a 92 mph wind gust at Beacon Rock, Wash. — which is about 35 miles east of Portland — in the early hours of Thursday morning, the weather service said.

Recent storms in the Pacific Northwest followed a string of dangerous weather along the West Coast this holiday week. Earlier, a large storm hit Northern California, causing the death of at least one person at Sunset State Beach in Santa Cruz, who was trapped Monday under debris that authorities believe was piled on top of him by a large wave, the Associated Press reported. Two people had to be saved when part of The Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed.

Thick fog also hovered over parts of the Midwest on Thursday. In Kansas City, predicted forecasters fog and light precipitation would continue throughout the day, with areas of particularly low visibility — less than a quarter mile in some places — expected to linger across central and eastern Kansas as well as central Missouri through the morning. Forecasts indicated that the fog would clear, but only to a certain extent, in the afternoon.

The outlook further north in Illinois was pretty similar.

“Areas of dense fog will remain over parts of northern Illinois into this afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chicago said in a statement Thursday morning. “Expect low visibility and slower driving out on the roads until conditions improve.”

Kati Weis contributed to this report.