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Power outage and fire snarls Washington DC rush hour traffic
A widespread power outage and subway fire left Washington dark and snarled traffic during the morning rush hour on Friday, power and transit officials said.
- Reuters
- Published: 18:06 June 13, 2008
Washington: A widespread power outage and subway fire left Washington dark and snarled traffic during the morning rush hour on Friday, power and transit officials said.
The Department of Homeland Security said there appeared to be no link to terrorism.
Pepco officials were investigating why a power substation failed at 10th St. on Friday morning, leaving about 11,000 downtown customers in the dark, Pepco spokeswoman Andre Francis said.
The transit authority said it had extinguished a fire at the downtown Metro Center stop. Several other stops were darkened as they ran on backup power.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority warned commuters to expect delays of up to an hour.
Pepco and WMATA said they did not know if the power outage and the fire were related.
The power outage darkened traffic lights downtown. Buses and cars initially battled to get through major intersections, until police arrived to direct traffic. At one intersection, pedestrians screamed at cars to stop and let the elderly cross the streets.
A police spokeswoman said there had been no reports of injuries or accidents related to the outage.
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