AT&T users near Nashville are experiencing some disruptions after the facilities were damaged in a car explosion.
Early on Christmas morning, a major explosion in downtown Nashville sent at least three people to the hospital and damaged nearby buildings. Authorities believe the explosion was “an intentional act”, according to CNN.
Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Nashville Metro Police Department, also told CNN that there was “significant damage” to the area’s infrastructure.
The car exploded in front of an AT&T broadcast building in Nashville, according to a press release from the FBI and local authorities. AT&T users are now experiencing disruptions on the phone and the Internet in some areas near Nashville. DownDetector shows that Nashville, Atlanta and Chattanooga are among the areas with the most outage reports.
“Service for some customers in Nashville and the surrounding area could be affected by damage to our facilities caused by the explosion this morning. We are in contact with law enforcement authorities and working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service,” Jim Greer, AVP for AT&T Corporate Communications, wrote in a statement to Insider.
These interruptions are hitting some 911 emergency lines. In Tennessee, the Murfreesboro police department tweeted that “Murfreesboro’s 911 lines and non-emergency lines are currently down.”
—Murfreesboro TN Police Department (@MboroPoliceDept) December 25, 2020
Police on Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, also tweeted that their “911 and non-emergency lines are down, which is probably related to a widespread outage on 12/25/2020 caused by the explosion in downtown Nashville.”
—Mt. Juliet police (@MtJulietPolice) December 25, 2020
The police department in La Vergne, Tennessee, also said its emergency lines were interrupted due to the outage.
—La Vergne, TN Police Department (@LaVergneTNPD) December 25, 2020
Tennessean has maintained a list of impacted areas and alternative numbers.
It is not yet clear whether anyone was in the car at the time of the explosion. Tennessean reported that the explosion could be heard from miles away. The FBI and local officials said they are investigating the incident and have restricted vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the area.
Before the explosion, the RV would have issued an alert to those in the area, Tennessean reported. He started a 15-minute countdown after proclaiming, “Evacuate now. There’s a bomb. A bomb is in this vehicle and it’s going to explode.”