911, COVID Hotline Downed by Nashville Blast

Widespread outages continue in Tennessee following the explosion
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 26, 2020 2:00 PM CST
Tennessee Comms Outages Linger After RV Blast
A couple checks flight status at Nashville international Airport Friday in Nashville.   (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Sweeping communications outages continued to plague large swaths of Tennessee on Saturday after a recreational vehicle exploded early Christmas morning in sleepy downtown Nashville. Police emergency systems across Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as Nashville's COVID-19 community hotline, remained out of service due to an AT&T central office being affected by the blast. Gov. Bill Lee asked the White House on Saturday for federal assistance due to the “severity and magnitude” of the explosion's impact.

At least 41 buildings were damaged, and communications systems—including residential and cell phone service and 911 call centers—failed across the state, he said. Kentucky and northern Alabama were also affected, he said, per the AP. The outages had even briefly grounded flights at the Nashville International Airport, but service was continuing normally as of Saturday. (Police released an image of the RV that exploded.)

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