Earlier this afternoon, an equipment failure inside a switching station plunged 15,000 people in New Jersey into darkness. Included in the power outage area is Newark Liberty airport. With the exception of air traffic control, nothing is powered at the airport, including ground movement of planes.

At the moment, the FAA still reports a ground traffic management program, and people on Twitter are tweeting that their planes are all grounded.

CNN reports that some passengers had to be rescued from stranded elevators, and that passengers are still stuck on the AirTrain. Are you are Newark airport? Leave a comment with your experience!

Update: Power has been restored, but it could take several hours for airport operations to return back to normal.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Filed under: Airlines, Airports