Widespread Outages A Sign Of Bigger Problems To Come?
WASHINGTON (WJZ)--A massive power outage blacked out thousands in D.C. and Maryland and officials say the issue started with transmission equipment dozens of miles away.
Now-- some are raising the red flag about how fragile the power grid really is.
Meghan McCorkell has more on what happened.
Utility officials say a piece of metal breaking loose from a power line temporarily knocked out power.
From the State Department to the White House, a massive power outage puts thousands in both D.C. and Maryland in the dark.
Museums on the National Mall and some federal buildings-- shut down. Even classes at University of Maryland in College Park were cancelled.
"It all went dark and we all started going what is going on? And within about five minutes the alarms went off and we were all evacuated," said Shelby Vaughn, student
So what caused the widespread outage?
The answer--43 miles to the south at a power switching station in Ryceville, Maryland in Charles County.
Officials with the Southern Maryland Electrical Cooperative say a transmission conductor fell to the ground.
"The whole sky was blue and green and you could see sparks coming from the top."
The incident cut the supply to two power stations and caused a ripple effect.
Energy Watchdogs say Tuesday's outage may be the sign of a much bigger problem.
"I think it's a good reminder that our power grid and utility infrastructure is fragile," said Emily Scarr, Maryland PIRG.
Back in 2003, a tree limb first triggered the largest blackout in U.S. history that plunged 50 million from New York City to Ohio into darkness.
Emily Scarr with the Maryland Public Interest Research Group says utility companies need to make moves to increase reliability.
"The number one thing that they haven't done well enough on is energy efficiency and that's the easiest thing utility companies can do to increase reliability," Scarr said.
So more scenes like this can be avoided. Most of yesterday's power outages were restored within a few hours.
Officials with the Southern Maryland Electrical Cooperative says all of their protective equipment operated properly during yesterday's incident.