TSA officers could not determine who had been properly screened and who had not, so all passengers and carry-ons were removed from planes and the terminal for re-screening, airport spokeswoman Jackie Mayo told CNN affiliate WOIO.

“Literally a dump of the terminal,” she told CNN affiliate WEWS.

Officers and a bomb-sniffing dog checked all four concourses of the terminal while passengers waited outside in the rain, WEWS reported. The terminal reopened less than 45 minutes after the problem was discovered, Mayo said.

The action was taken "out of an abundance of caution," a TSA statement said.

“That 4:30 to 6, 7 o’clock in the morning is a really busy time,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of people in here who are taking those early-morning flights, those weekend warriors who are going home. So it was a little bit of an inconvenience, but as a precautionary measure it’s what we do, and what airports across the country do. It’s all about security, which is our highest priority.”

The schedule had returned to normal by late morning.