An electrical equipment failure knocked out power to about 39,000 customers in Washington on Saturday, with most of those affected reportedly in the northwest quadrant of the nation’s capital, Potomac Electric Power Company officials said.
Frank Tedesco, a spokesman for the company, said the utility had pinpointed the source of the problem.
“There appears to be an issue with electrical equipment at our Florida Avenue substation,” he said.
Company officials did not have an estimate for when power would be restored.
They said most of the customers affected were in the Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights neighborhoods.
Social media posts showed city firefighters responding to a building where a person was trapped inside an elevator, and others showed passengers waiting on the platform for the Metro.
Mark McDevitt, who lives in the Shaw neighborhood, said he was sitting in a coffee shop when the power went out.
“We could see that if went off across the street,” he said. “And then a couple of business owners around the block came in to chat with one another.”
Mr. McDevitt said the city felt “normal” despite the lack of power but said he was hearing lots of sirens. “It’s weird because in some places the traffic lights are working, but in some places they aren’t,” he said.