Nashville’s Opryland Hotel was forced to evacuate thousands of people last night after an explosion that officials are blaming on a gas leak. No one was hurt. It’s been just over two years since the sprawling hotel and convention center had to evacuate amid another costly disaster – the 2010 flood.
UPDATE at 9:38am: Gaylord estimates that the explosion caused around $750,000 in damage to Opryland.
Opryland says last night most of the hotel’s 2,800 rooms were occupied before the evacuation. Some people ended up borrowing hotel sheets and sleeping on benches outside, or in parked cars. Hundreds more could be heard faintly snoring next door, inside a somber and dimly-lit Grand Ole Opry House.
Gail Malin sat beside an idling fire engine wondering if she’d make her early-morning flight home to Maryland. Malin says the last time she stayed at Opryland, Nashville was underwater.
“And the whole hotel was flooded, lost everything, and this was my first time back – see what happens? So it’s destined. This is like a voodoo place for me. (laughs) I am not coming back here – definitely not.”
Still, Malin and several others praised the hotel staff for doing its best in a rocky situation, keeping things civil and giving out sandwiches and water. The hotel is waiving all charges for last night – there’s no word yet on the cost, or the price tag for repairs from the blast.
REPORTED EARLIER:
An explosion overnight at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center has forced several thousand people to evacuate, although no injuries have been reported.
It’s not yet clear what caused the blast, which punched through a brick wall and scattered debris. Hundreds of lawmen from around the country were on-site for a national sheriff’s convention, and the hotel was sold out for the night.
Nashville Fire Chief Ricky Taylor says the blast came from a mechanical room behind an escalator, and that FBI and bomb units are on the scene. Engineers will have to check the damaged area to see if it’s structurally sound before the hotel allows people back in. In the meantime evacuated guests are being shuttled to the Grand Ole Opry House.
WPLN’s Bradley George contributed to this report.
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