Major power outage sweeps Washington region

Washington (AFP) - A power outage swept the Washington area Tuesday, hitting the White House, the Capitol and the State Department and knocking out electricity for thousands around the US capital.

Outages stretched from downtown Washington into neighboring Maryland, knocking power out for more than 2,500 people, according to area power companies.

Most outages were brief, but computer systems were downtown offices and access to Metro trains were disrupted.

Washington power provider Pepco said the outage was caused by a dip in voltage as a result of an issue with the transmission line .... http://news.yahoo.com