The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted flights from Nashville International Airport on Friday after an explosion in the city center on Christmas morning, the Associated Press reported.
The flights were suspended due to a telecommunications problem associated with the explosion, according to the news agency, and service is expected to resume at around 3 pm local time.
An FAA spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The blast, near an AT&T-owned building, also caused widespread interruptions in communications that brought down police emergency systems, AP reported.
“We don’t know if this was a coincidence or if that was the intention,” said police spokesman Don Aaron, according to the news agency.
Jim Greer, a spokesman for AT&T, said that some customers may experience service problems, but the company declined to say how widespread the outages were.
“Service for some customers in and around Nashville 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 securely as possible to restore service, ”said Greer in an emailed statement to the AP.
The disruptions affected parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. Several law enforcement agencies reported that their 911 systems were down because of the crash, according to the AP.
Police officers earlier in the day said three people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries and several buildings were damaged, some extensively, as a result of the explosion in the city center that they believe was intentional.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said officers were responding to an emergency gunshot call in the city center at around 5:30 am and found a trailer that played a recording saying a potential bomb would detonate in 15 minutes.
Authorities then evacuated nearby buildings, Drake said.
Drake said officials are sweeping the city center as a precaution, but at a news conference on Friday afternoon, he said the authorities did not feel there were any more threats.
Both President Trump
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Joe BidenJudge expels Republican action to close Georgia’s polls after business hours. First responders Fauci serenade with ‘happy birthday’ Joe Biden may be the president of middle class workers and all races MORE were informed about the explosion.
Updated at 17:01