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Flights resume after FAA facility evacuation wreaks havoc at BWI

Issue at FAA facility grounds flights at BWI
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Flights into and out of three airports in the Washington region have resumed Tuesday after being affected by a construction-related evacuation at a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Virginia.

BWI Airport officials said airlines are still working to restore flights at BWI and other area airports. 

Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport were all impacted by the evacuation, with flights halted for several hours.

The FAA said in a statement that a facility in Leesburg, Virginia, that handles high altitude flights over the area was evacuated about 6:40 p.m. Monday because of fumes from construction work.

The FAA says that as a result of the evacuation, the facility stopped accepting new flights and handed off airborne flights to other facilities.

The FAA said in a statement that air traffic controllers resumed operations at the facility about 9:30 p.m. Monday and that delayed flights were beginning to take off. Normal operations were expected to resume Tuesday morning.

ABC2 News contributed to this report.