US Capital hit by power blackout, subway fire
Pastor Dale Morgan
US Capital hit by power blackout, subway fire*
From correspondents in Washington
June 13, 2008 11:11pm
Article from: Reuters
A WIDESPREAD power outage and subway fire has plunged Washington into
darkness and snarled traffic during the morning rush hour, power and
transit officials said.
The Department of Homeland Security said there appeared to be no link to
terrorism.
The White House was running on backup power, a spokesman said.
The power outage darkened traffic lights downtown. Pedestrians screamed
at cars to stop and let the elderly cross the streets.
Pepco officials were investigating why a power substation failed around
7.30am, leaving about 7500 customers in the dark.
Emergency crews had extinguished a fire near the Dupont Circle subway
stop but commuters were faced with delays of up to an hour, said a
spokeswoman with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
"It is not yet known if the power problem and the fire are related,"
spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in a recorded message.
WMATA said there had also been reports of smoke at the downtown Metro
Center stop, and several other downtown stops were without power, Metro
said.