A power outage Friday caused a blackout in parts of downtown Washington, including the White House, leaving thousands without electricity and causing major subway delays, the utility company said.
A power outage Friday caused a blackout in parts of downtown Washington, including the White House, according to an Agence France-Press release ,
The blackout area includes the White House, although an AFP correspondent said it appeared to be business as usual, if only with a few less lights on.
“We are running on generator power,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where the vice-president’s office is based, has also been affected.
“About 7,000 customers are without power,” said David Morehead, a spokesman for the PEPCO utility. He told AFP a substation went down around 1120 GMT.
Local radio WTOP said the outage covered a 30-block radius, and was affecting traffic lights along several main streets.
Staff were seen standing outside many buildings in the downtown area, including about 30 people outside the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Subway operator Metro said trains were moving but passengers should expect long delays, while a number of stations were operating on emergency lighting, “so they are significantly darker than usual.”
Escalators and ticket machines were not working, it said.
