Southwest flight makes emergency landing in Panama City, Florida after weather scare

PANAMA CITY, Florida (KTRK) -- Passengers aboard a Southwest flight were in for quite the scare.

The flight was heading to New Orleans from Fort Lauderdale when passengers encountered severe weather.

"We came through the clouds and the plane was just tilting back and forth. It was going all over the place. People were screaming, people were crying," one passenger said.

"It felt like I was about to lift off. I felt like it was done," another passenger described.

It all happened as the flight was trying to land at Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans.

A flight map showed that the airport was right at the center of the storm.

The pilot managed to get past the thunder and lightning to make an emergency landing in Panama City Saturday afternoon.