Electricity supply interrupted at White House

The official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States (US), popularly known as White House, experienced power outage on Tuesday, following widespread power outages in Washington DC. 

According to a US official who spoke to CNN, the outage, which affected a major part of the US capital, was caused by a small explosion at a power transfer line in southern Maryland.

The outage affected government and private-owned buildings, the University of Maryland, Smithsonian museums, and more than a dozen Metrorail stations, leaving the city at the mercy of backup power systems.

The outage struck everything from the White House to the State Department, where government employees and reporters saw lights and power flicker out.

Alexander Mallin, a journalist with ABCNews, tweeted pictures from the daily state department briefing, where Marie Harf, the deputy spokesperson of the state department, had to use phone lights to illuminate the briefing room.

Power went out at about 5:40pm (16:40 GMT), putting many security agencies and fire officials on their toes in a quick investigation of the outage.

Donna Fuqua, Charles county spokeswoman, said fire department officials were responding to a substation that caught fire on Ryceville road as of 7pm (19:00 GMT).

A spokesman for Pepco, the city’s major electric utility, told CNN that the company was aware of the outages and was investigating the source of the problem.

Josh Earnest, white house press secretary, said he was in a meeting with President Barrack Obama Tuesday when the complex lost power. But he said Obama was not affected by the incident and did not notice any problems.