A power outage forced all arrivals and departures at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to be cancelled for several hours Wednesday morning. The airport reported the power outage just before 5 a.m.
The outage left much of the terminal dark, and restaurants started handing out sandwiches to passengers who were stuck.
"Airport teams have been dispatched to investigate the cause of the outage. If you are in the terminal, please follow instructions by AUS staff," the airport tweeted at 4:53 am.
Austin Energy said it was investigating the problem, and power lines at the airport are underground.
"In any electric system, there are multiple circuits. If there's an issue, it is called a fault. We use fault indicators (devices that light up) to help locate & isolate the fault. Then, we can fix the issue & reenergize the line," the utility wrote in a statement.
Passengers posted videos showing darkened terminals. Others posted pictures and videos of the road leading to the airport, which was also closed.
The videos showed some passengers and airline employees wheeling luggage down the road.
At 8:33 a.m., Bergstrom said power had been restored; flights resumed just before 10 a.m.
"The roadways are now open and the ground stop which halted all flights has been lifted. Please continue to check your flight status with your airline this morning & through today," the airport said.
Austin Energy says malfunctioning underground equipment caused the outage.
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