Nasty, nasty weather over parts of the South today. In fact it got so bad, that the folks at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport said their Emergency Operation Center will be active through the night to assist passengers stranded by the powerful thunderstorms. Actually, being stranded at an airport is precisely what I talk about in my latest column for ABCNews.com. Plus, I’ve got some great links for you! Keep reading for more…

In this column , I provide 9-tips for what to do in case you get stranded. Most of these tips come too late for the people stuck at DFW, because there’s a certain amount of planning ahead involved.

The most important tip? Know your rights. And that means being familiar with your airline’s contract of carriage which is a document that spells that out for you (and here’s a link to those).

Another important tip: Have a back-up plan. But don’t worry; this can be as simple as assembling the names and local number of some hotel chains (near all the airports you’ll be flying to), along with a list of rental car agencies.

I also suggest fliers assemble a list of alternate flight routes in case of cancellations or delays, but at DFW today, clearly no airline was going to be flying anywhere, for awhile anyway.