Rain forces suspension of flights in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY – Flights have begun landing again at Mexico City's international airport after bad weather forced officials to suspend operations for 3 ½ hours.

Airport spokesman Jorge Andres Gomez says heavy afternoon rain and hail left a sheet of water on the runways, which were closed at 4:43 p.m. (5:43 p.m. EDT; 2143 GMT) on Saturday. Witnesses say flights began landing again at roughly 8:20 p.m. and a plane took off a few minutes later.

Dozens of flights were diverted to other airports, suspended or delayed.