The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted flights departing from Nashville International Airport on Friday after an explosion in the downtown area in the early hours of Christmas morning, The Associated Press reported .
The flights were suspended due to a telecommunications problem related to the blast, Newswire reports, and service was expected to resume around 3 p.m., local time.
An FAA spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The blast, near an AT&T-owned building, also sparked widespread communications cuts that toppled police emergency systems, AP reported.
“We don’t know if it was a coincidence or if that was the intention,” police spokesman Don Aaron said, according to the news channel.
Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesman, said some customers may have service issues, but the company declined to say how far the falls spread.
“Service for some customers in Nashville and surrounding areas may be affected by damage to our facilities due to the explosion this morning. We are in contact with law enforcement and are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service, ”Greer said in an emailed statement to AP.
The cuts reportedly affected parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. Several police agencies reported that their 911 systems had crashed due to the outage, according to AP.
Police officers said earlier in the day that three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries and that several buildings were damaged, some severely, as a result of the explosion of the center which they consider intentional.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said officers were responding to an emergency call for gunfire in the downtown area around 5:30 a.m. and found an RV playing a recording saying that a possible bomb would detonate in 15 minutes.
Officials evacuated nearby buildings, Drake said.
Drake said authorities are sweeping the city center as a precaution, but at a briefing on Friday afternoon said officials do not feel there is any more threat.
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Updated at 5:01 p.m.