Posted on 06/13/2008 7:48:47 AM PDT by Braak
WASHINGTON -- Thousands homes and businesses are without power and Dupont Circle and Metro Center Metrorail stations are closed after a major outage in northwest D.C. on Friday. Officials said the outage was due to a failure at a substation on 10th Street.
About 12,000 customers were without power at 10:30 a.m. Pepco said the outages stretches from as far north as U Street N.W. to F Street N.W., the Dupont Circle area to the west and Third Street N.W. to the east.
Many downtown workers have been waiting outside on city streets because their offices are dark. Power is also out at Verizon Center and the White House. Traffic signals have been affected.
Metro Center station closed at 9:50 a.m. after second fire was reported on the tracks in the direction of Shady Grove. A fire was reported earlier in the day at Dupont Circle Station.
Dupont Circle Station reopened after the fire and then closed at about 9:25 a.m. because there was no electricity to the station's escalators. Dupont Circle's longest escalators, at Connecticut Avenue and Q Street, are 188 feet long, Metro said.
Many people were in medical distress after having to walk up the escalators to exit, News4's Darcy Spencer reported. D.C. Fire and Rescue said nine people were treated at the scene and one person, who has a heart condition, was taken to a hospital, Spencer said.
Officials said five Metro stations total were affected by the power outage. Metro said it is using back-up power at Dupont Circle, Shaw-Howard, Farragut North, Farragut West and McPherson Square stations. Trains are serving the stations, except for Dupont, but they are significantly darker than usual. Escalators, elevators and vending machines at those stations are not operating.
A track fire was reported at about 9:45 a.m. on the Red Line between Metro Center and Farragut North stations. Farragut North was evacuated while crews investigated. Inbound trains were turned around at Gallery Place-Chinatown Station, Metro said. The fire was under control as of 10:15 a.m., and Metro is testing to make sure the tracks are safe. Metro Center station is now closed.
Another small fire was also reported along the tracks near Dupont Circle at 7:24 a.m. Firefighters put out the fire along the track in the direction of Glenmont. Initially, trains were single-tracking around the incident. Power was restored, and trains began moving through the station on both tracks at 8:30 a.m. and ran for about an hour until the station was closed again.
Metro officials said it is not known if the fire and the power outages are related.
Metro riders should try to avoid the Red Line or be prepared for major delays, officials said. The delays could add more than an hour to commute times, officials said.
Free shuttle buses are operating from Gallery Place to Woodley Park Metrorail stations. Customers also can expect lengthy waits for shuttles of more than 60 minutes.
People traveling along Connecticut Avenue should consider taking the Metrobus Connecticut Lines of L1, L2, L4, L7 and L8 to get around the problem.
Viewer Patrick McCarthy sent an image to isee@nbc4.com from a Metro train sitting in the dark:
"There is a complete power outage at Farragut West (where I took this picture) and my coworker said it was the same at Farragut North station as well," McCarthy wrote. "I was shocked to find that there were no emergency lights indicating the exits and especially the edge of the platform! The entire station was pitch black. People were struggling to find the stopped escalators to get off of the platform. With no emergency lights, someone could easily mis-step and end up falling into the rail bed because it was so dark. It was quite a dangerous situation."
IBTBF!
CHAOS!
What do you mean? The Greater Chicago metro area has 28,000 out of power at the moment.
That’s homes & businesses, not individuals.
D.C. is always in the dark. The literal is just catching up to the figurative.
Just think, only yesterday, the Feds gave Metro another 1.5 billion dollars...and Virginia and Maryland will match that for future operations.
The system is getting old, and it’s beginning to crack.
How’d you like to be on a subway platform in complete darkness, though?
That is not a good spot.
Well, it’s the third or fourth major service disruption on Metro in the past two weeks. I can see some folks getting pretty mad about this. I also wonder if more places in DC are going to lose power? SE for example? No power for A/C and a typical DC summer? Need I say more?
The update on this article says they’ve restored power to the White House and the area around Chinatown, but there’s still 12,000 people without power.
Getting stuck in a Metro station without power wouldn’t be my idea of a good day. I lived up there 20 years ago and remember that the downtown stations (well, McPherson Square anyway as it’s the one I remember the most) seemed awful dark and dingy even with the lights on.
}:-)4
What’s with all the track fires on the Metro? They mention them as an aside in the story but if someone’s going around setting fires on the tracks of the Metro i’d say that’s a pretty significaant story.
The White House is running on a generator.
Yeah, I know and I use it to get to work. Considering most of the trouble was on the Orange Line of late (and towards the END of my work day), I was rather shocked to see the magnitude of the failure here. I live on the border of the affected area, and yeah, I crossed three streets where there was nothing, not even stoplights working...and it took MPD a while to get unsnarled and get people out directing traffic.
...track fires on the Metro? ....i’d say that’s a pretty significaant story.
I really do hope this is just a case of coincidence. If it isn’t, then whomever it is really dangerous, to say the least.
I take the Orange Line myself to Blue Line at Rosslyn to get home. That derailment on the Orange Line earlier this week was a nightmare. Happily, I heard about it in time to walk to Rosslyn and hop on the old Blue Line.
I think Metro’s a fine system, but it’s beginning to creak.
http://www.wmata.com/about/MET_NEWS/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2136
Power’s back up, but it seems folks are investigating..
A lot of people out of power in Savannah, GA right now, too.
Took the bus from where I work to Rosslyn that time..and after the tornado in Dunn Loring, I took the bus to Ballston. Yeah. I agree. Metro was a wonder in the 80s and 90s when I was growing up, but it seems the system can’t handle it anymore.
News flash!!
11:13 am, the electricity is back on. Recent news reports are that Metro ridership has risen more than 10% since the big rise in gasoline costs. Overload?
Obviously the inhabitants of D.C. are delighted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.