Widespread Power Outage Hits Washington, DC, Area
Apr 7, 2015, 1:39 PM ET
By STACY CHEN and AJ FEATHER
A power outage caused by failed utility equipment knocked out power across Washington, D.C., with reports of outages at the White House, State Department, several museums, the University of Maryland campus as well as some Washington Metro stations.
The outage was caused by equipment failure at a substation feeding into a Southern Maryland power plant, according to utility providers and US homeland security officials. There are no indications of cyber-intrusion or sabotage.
According to Joe Slater, President and CEO of Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, which operates the powerplant in Charles County, Maryland, a Potomac Electric Power Company line feeding to their facility failed and fell to the ground.
A spokesperson for the utility company, known as PEPCO, said crews were on the scene investigating the failure of the PEPCO equipment. He did not confirm that the failed line fell to the ground.
An official with the Department of Homeland Security official told ABC News that initial information showed the cause of the outage was an explosion in a southern Maryland power plant.
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The White House experienced a power outage as well, but power came back within seconds. The West Wing is now using a back-up generator.