Nashville explosion disrupts flights and causes AT&T outage
The explosion of an RV parked near a transmission building in Nashville disrupted AT&T service in the region and caused a brief ground stop at the city’s main airport, officials said.
“We continue to work to restore service for customers in Nashville and the surrounding areas who were affected by this morning’s explosion,” AT&T spokesman Jim Greer said in a statement hours after the incident. “We have mobilized additional resources including our National Disaster Recovery team and are bringing in multiple portable cell sites to assist in the recovery efforts.”
Greer told CNN that a network hub was damaged.
When one network hub is disrupted, typically by a hurricane or other natural disaster, some internet traffic can be rerouted, but not all.
That’s why customers across Nashville and other parts of Tennessee reported losing wireless phone service and other connectivity.
Network hubs rely on commercial power with battery and generator backups. The damage to the facility may have impacted these systems and caused service to degrade later in the day.
The disruption at the downtown network hub had cascading effects at the airport and elsewhere.
AT&T is deploying portable cell towers to Nashville to support law enforcement and improve wireless service. CNN’s parent company, WarnerMedia, is owned by AT&T.
Nashville International Airport said telecommunications issues associated with the blast caused the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly halt flights from Nashville.
The FAA said the ground stop was lifted after about an hour. “Pilots never lost touch with air traffic control,” the agency said in a statement.
The FAA website shows that the ground stop was issued due to a ZME Frequency Outage.
ZME is an FAA air traffic control facility in Memphis that is responsible for controlling aircraft in the area at higher altitudes.
Flight service at Nashville International Airport “continues to be impacted by telecommunications issues,” a tweet from the airport said around 3:30 p.m. CT.
“Some flight corridors have been restored while others remain closed,” the tweet said.
