Airline travel is in recovery mode a day after heavy storms dumped record rainfall and caused hundreds of flight delays and cancellations in Atlanta.

The Federal Aviation Administration reports operations are at near normal at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport as air carriers continue to reposition their diverted planes and stranded passengers work to make their way to their final destinations.

Atlanta experienced close to 700 weather-related flight delays and cancellations Sunday.

"We expect it to be a recovery day," said FAA spokeswoman Katheen Bergen. "We expect the weather to holdup at least during the first part of the day. Right now, operations are close to normal in Atlanta."

Bergen was uncertain whether travelers out of Atlanta would encounter problems elsewhere. Much depends on the weather, she said. The Northeast, particularly the New York and Philadelphia airports, also experienced severe storms Sunday, she said.

"Right now, I think it [the weather] looks pretty good. That's really key," Bergen said. "We're encouraging people to check with their airline and with our Web site," Bergen said.

Hartsfield-Jackson officials today also are asking passengers to use similar tools to track the status of their flight. Travelers can expect security checkpoint waits of 30 minutes this morning, according the airport's Web site.

Flight delays in Atlanta averaged 2.5 hours during the storm, according airport spokesman DeAllous Smith.

In good weather, the airport sees 120 flights per hour, but at one point Sunday, the rate was down to 78 per hour. Flights were also diverted to other airports when they couldn't land in Atlanta.

The storm dumped 2.1 inches of rain on the metro area, a record for July 13, according to the National Weather Service. Forecaster Kent McMullen blamed the severe weather on a tropical air mass and a cold front that moved through the state.

"They combined to produce thunderstorms," McMullen said. "They were slow moving so they dropped a lot of rainfall."

Power was restored by midnight to about 6,000 Georgia Power customers across metro Atlanta who suffered weathered-related outages, according to spokesman Jeff Wilson.

The downpour might have contributed to a pileup in East Point that killed a motorcyclist and injured two others involved in the crash.

The accident happened about noon on Intertstate 285 North when a vehicle rear-ended a slowed SUV, causing it to hydroplane into several out-of-state motocyclists who had stopped to put on rain gear, said East Point Detective Cliff Chandler.

East Point police are searching for the driver of the vehicle that rear-ended the SUV, Chandler said.

Today's forecast calls for a high in the upper 80s. The rest of the week will see temperatures in the high 90s and lows in the 60s.