More than 1,100 customers lost electricity in parts of Washington, DC, on Monday, November 2, after a power outage affected the Foggy Bottom and downtown areas, according to reports.The disruption affected 1,176 Pepco customers, with the outages concentrated in Foggy Bottom, an area that is home to the US State Department. Some affected locations were also a few blocks from the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported.Emergency crews responded after smoke was reported coming from multiple manholes. One incident was described as a manhole explosion directly in front of the World Bank building.Pepco said the probable cause of the outage was a failure at one of its substations. The utility was assessing the situation and had not provided a confirmed restoration timeline in the available reports.The outage came a day before Election Day, when voters across the country were preparing to cast their ballots in the midterm elections.
DC power outage impacts GW University: Details
Potomac Electric Power Company initially estimated power to be restored around 11 am. But officials later revised the estimated time to “pending assessment”. The outage’s boundaries are currently unclear, as well as which buildings have fully lost power as inoperable traffic lights bring much of Foggy Bottom traffic to a crawl, with GW IT confirming the outage has impacted the Foggy Bottom Data Center and services like GWeb and classroom technology.GW Hatchet repored that officials have canceled all classes for the day, they shared in a GW Alert at 11:37 a.m. that all School of Medicine and Health Sciences and GW Law classes would continue in-person and remotely, along with operations on the University’s Arlington, Alexandria and Virginia Science and Technology campuses.A University spokesperson said the outage is affecting multiple GW campus buildings and the surrounding Foggy Bottom area, adding officials have canceled classes until noon and will provide a second update about classes later in the day before noon.Officials directed students encountering challenges entering their dorms to the key depot at 2025 F Street to pick up loaner keys.Other neighborhood buildings, including Western Market, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund appear to have also lost power.
