LAX terminal being evacuated 'out of abundance of caution' to rescreen passengers following power outage
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Passengers at the Los Angeles International Airport were asked to exit Terminal 1 on Thursday morning to be rescreened following a power outage that was responsible for stalling travel on Wednesday night.
In an update posted to the airport’s Twitter account shortly after 6 a.m. PST, LAX confirmed the rescreening process, which was said to be taken “out of an abundance of caution.”
“LAX UPDATE: out of an abundance of caution, due to last night’s power disruption, guests this morning in Terminal 1 are being rescreened by TSA. Airport police and TSA are sending additional officers to expedite the screening process.”
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The Los Angeles Airport police shared the same statement with Fox News.
The airport tweeted that the "security sweep" of the terminal was completed by 6:46 a.m. to begin the rescreening process.
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LAX had been working to resume normal operation after a power outage, and subsequent power “bump,” had temporarily knocked out electricity at the entire airport.
Electricity was restored to most terminals via emergency backup generators, though Terminals 1, 7 and 8 remained dark for three or more hours, the Associated Press reported.
The outages forced the diversion, delay or cancelation of more than dozens of flights, with 40 of Southwest’s scheduled landings and departures diverted or canceled alone.
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Passengers were also briefly stuck on planes while power was restored to electrically powered jet bridges, the AP reported.
LAX had been working to resume normal operation after a power outage, and subsequent power “bump,” had temporarily knocked out electricity at the entire airport. (iStock)
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Southwest Airlines, which operates out of Terminal 1, has said it expects to resume flying at LAX as of 8 a.m. PST.
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“LAX Security is currently emptying the Terminal due to a possible security issue. All passengers will be rescreened,” the statement reads.
“We’ve placed a ground stop on flights in and out of LAX, scheduled to last until 8 a.m. PDT. Once the ground stop is lifted, we will run a metered program to allow for flights to take off and arrive to LAX.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.