About 1,500 Pepco customers in Near Northeast have lost power this morning, according to the electric company.
The outage affects an area centered around the H Street corridor, roughly bounded by C Street, 8th Street and Florida Avenue NE, as well as the train tracks north of Union Station. The electricity went out about 5 a.m.
The power is expected to return by 10 a.m.
Image via Pepco
An apparent failure of underground equipment has left hundreds of residents and businesses in Near Northeast without power.
Pepco reported that roughly 430 of its customers in Near Northeast lost power some time this morning. Power outages were also reported in the Carver, Langston and Columbia Heights neighborhoods, according to a D.C. alert notice.
The outage also reportedly affected the lights at the Navy Yard Metro station:
Navy Yard: reported commercial power outage. Station on back-up lighting, no impact to rail service. 11:57a #wmata
— Metrorail Info (@Metrorailinfo) June 7, 2016
The cause of the outage is listed as an “underground equipment failure.” Pepco said power could be restored to the affected areas around 3:30 p.m.
We’ll update this story as we learn more.
Image via Pepco Outage Map
More than 950 Pepco customers in Navy Yard and Southwest were without power this morning.
The outage was first reported at about 9:10 a.m. today and affected the area below Southeast Freeway between 5th Street SE and Delaware Avenue SW and extending south into Buzzard Point.
Power was restored to the entire area this afternoon, according to a D.C. government alert sent out at 1:45 p.m.
Image via Pepco
(Updated at 8:59 a.m.) At least 1,124 Pepco customers were without power in parts of the Capitol Hill area this morning.
The outage was reported just before 2 a.m. this morning, according to the Pepco Outage Map, and resolved around 9:30 a.m.
The outage affected residents and businesses as far north as New York Ave NE and as far south as D Street NE. Parts of Florida Ave. NE near Gallaudet University and a portion of the H Street corridor were also affected.
This is normally where we would tell you about events going on in the Capitol Hill area this weekend and warn you about Metro delays. However, the blizzard currently blowing into the area will shut down the Metro for the entire weekend and force most planned events to reschedule.
Mayor Muriel Bowser is urging residents to shelter at home for the duration of the storm. Here’s everything you need to know to weather the storm in the Capitol Hill area:
The Forecast
The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang is expecting snow to continue falling for about 36 hours with an average snowfall of an inch per hour. The storm is expected to be worst late this evening and into Saturday.
Pepco has warned District residents to expect some extended power outages in the area as heavy snow and high winds batter wires. Bowser also pleaded for patience after the storm as cleanup is expected to take several days.
Snow Emergency Plan
Bowser declared a snow emergency for the entire District this morning. Information on closures, emergencies and more is available at snow.dc.gov:
- Metrobus service will stop completely at 5 p.m.
- Metro Rail service will stop completely at 11 p.m.
- The District Department of Transportation has been towing cars off of Snow Emergency Routes and urges drivers to stay off the road if possible
Warming Centers
The District government has designated public buildings in each Ward as warming areas, including the following buildings in the Capitol Hill area. Separate shelters are designated for people experiencing homelessness during the storm and those whose power might go out during the course of the storm:
Capitol Hill area warming shelters for those experiencing homelessness are:
- Trinidad Recreation Center (1310 Childress St. NE)
- King Greenleaf Recreation Center (201 N St. SW)
- Sherwood Recreation Center (640 10th St. NE)
If you see someone who may be experiencing homelessness or need shelter, call the shelter hotline at 1-800-535-7252 or 311 to request transportation to a shelter.
If power goes out in the Capitol Hill area, the Rosedale Recreation Center at 500 19th St. NE will be open as a warming center for those lacking power.
If you see an animal in need of assistance, contact the Washington Humane Society at 202-576-6664.
Phone Numbers to Know
- Pepco – 1-877-737-2662
- DC Water – 202-787-2000 or report a water main break using this online form
- Washington Gas – 703-750-1400 or 800-752-7520
Clearing Snow
Due to a new law signed by Bowser last year, the District is authorized to fine residents and businesses that don’t clear snow from sidewalks adjacent to their property within the first eight hours of daylight after snow stops falling. However, Bowser said on Thursday that the District will not be issuing tickets for unshoveled sidewalks during this storm. Still, city officials urge residents to shovel sidewalks in front of their property for neighbors’ safety.
What Do We Call This Storm
While it’s much more important to be prepared for the storm than to know what to call it, we do need something to call it. The official name of the storm is Winter Storm Jonas. However, that doesn’t have the ring of 2010’s Snowmageddon, and media outlets throughout the area have proposed their own names for the mega-storm:
- The Washington Times and NBC Washington are keeping it simple, using #Blizzard2016
- The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang dubbed the storm “Snowzilla”
- Hill Now sister site Borderstan got more creative with their naming, voting in a reader poll to call the storm “Gorf”
Photo via Flickr/58067032@N06
More than 300 Pepco customers on Capitol Hill and in Hill East were without power for hours this morning.
The outage began about 5 a.m. and affected an area bordered roughly by 10th Street SE, G Street SE and the Anacostia River.
Tyler Elementary School at 1001 G St. SE lost power, but was able to open on time at 8:35 a.m. once service was restored, a school representative said.
Service was restored to most customers before 8:45 a.m., according to Pepco. Fewer than 10 customers were still without electricity at that time.
Image via Pepco
Streetcar Rails Already Need Repairs — Though passenger service hasn’t started, broken rails on the H Street/Benning Road streetcar line are being repaired. Cold weather caused the damage, a DDOT representative said. [WAMU]
The Reason for the Power Outage — Power snapped off yesterday afternoon across the District because a piece of metal on a Pepco transmission conductor in Mechanicsville, Md. “broke free from its support structure and fell to the ground.” [Washington Post]
Survey on Police-Community Relations — A newly released survey shows local perceptions about the relationship between police and locals have worsened somewhat in Ward 6. [DCist]
Union Station Expansion Plans — The effort for a proposed $10 billion expansion of Union Station will be led by the architects who remade Grand Central Terminal in New York. Three million square feet of development above the tracks north of the station are in the works. [Washington Post]
Homes and Stores Could Replace Warehouse in NoMa — A developer is proposing to turn the Capital Self-Storage building at 301 N St. NE into a residential building with ground-floor retail. [Urban Turf]
(Updated at 3:05 p.m.) Locations throughout D.C., including in Navy Yard and in Southwest, mostly have regained power after an outage today affected more than 2,000 customers.
As of 3:05 p.m., Pepco’s website showed fewer than 100 outages near Nationals Park, along the National Mall, in the Washington Navy Yard complex and on 7th Street SW just south of I-395.
Several Metro stations were lit by backup units. But all of the stations had full power by 2:45 p.m., according to WMATA. Stations where the primary power source was down included Navy Yard, Eastern Market, Potomac Avenue, NoMa and Stadium-Armory.
The Smithsonian had evacuated the American Art Museum, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of the American Indian and National Portrait Gallery. Outages also were reported at the White House and State Department, The Washington Post reported.
Pepco on Twitter attributed the outages to “an issue with a transmission line.”
Shortly before 1 p.m. we experienced a dip in voltage in the Washington D.C. area. This was caused by an issue with a transmission line.
— Pepco (@PepcoConnect) April 7, 2015
There was never a loss of permanent electric supply but dip in voltage caused equipment at some facilities to transfer to backup systems.
— Pepco (@PepcoConnect) April 7, 2015
(Updated at 9:25 a.m.) More than 2,100 homes near the H Street corridor were without power overnight and into this morning during two separate power outages.
One outage hit the 600 block of 9th Street NE and at its height affected more than 2,100 Pepco customers. The problem was reported about 2 a.m. To the northeast, another outage affected customers near 13th Street and Florida Avenue NE.
Just over 40 customers were still without power near 13th Street and Florida Avenue NE as of 9:25 a.m. Pepco estimates that service will be restored there by 11 a.m.
An underground cable problem caused the outages, the Pepco spokesman said.
Image via Pepco
After multiple power outages this month, Hill East residents may get relief.
Pepco replaced equipment near Pennsylvania and Potomac avenues SE overnight today, the company told Hill Now.
“Crews replaced approximately 150 feet of primary cable, replaced and increased the capacity of transformers in order to accommodate a new structure on the 1400 block of Pennsylvania Ave., SE, and re-routed a feeder off a property near 16th and Pennsylvania Ave., SE,” Pepco said in a statement.
During the work, about 500 customers were without power from 11:30 p.m. Tuesday through about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Pepco said. The company placed door hangers on March 18 and 19 on homes they expected to be affected. One local reported not having been notified of the outage.
Hill East was hit by power outages early this month, including on March 2, when more than 500 customers were left in the dark for more than 20 hours. The owner of the Pennsylvania Avenue bar Wisdom said the outages forced him to shut down two Sundays in a row. “It really sucks for business,” he said.
The 1400 block of Pennsylvania Ave. SE, where Pepco upgraded infrastructure, may be the future site of a retail strip with more than 150 apartments and possibly a restaurant or brewery, a developer said last month. The standalone New York Pizza restaurant is on that land now.
(Updated at 5:25 p.m.) A power outage that’s lasted more than 20 hours has left parts of Hill East in the dark — and caused the cocktail lounge Wisdom to shut its doors.
Outages last Sunday, yesterday and today have left the 1432 Pennsylvania Ave. SE bar without electricity, forcing owner Erik Holzherr to shut down and miss out on an estimated $2,000.
Last Sunday, Wisdom — which was recently recognized for serving some of the best gin cocktails in the country — planned to host an Oscar-viewing party. Without power, Holzherr cancelled it. A book club meeting and private party of 30 people were scheduled for last night. But Holzherr was forced to cancel those, too.
“It really sucks for business,” he said, speaking from the dim building.
“Right now, I’m in the dark,” he said. “Luckily, it’s not freezing.”
As of 4:30 p.m., Wisdom was one of about 500 Pepco customers in the neighborhood without power. This morning, almost 625 Pepco customers in the area were affected. Flooding near Pennsylvania and Potomac avenues SE affected underground cables, a Pepco spokesman said.
Holzherr said Pepco told him earlier today that his power would be restored by 5:30 p.m.. He was worried he would have to keep Wisdom closed tonight, but the lights flicked back on about 5:20 p.m. The bar will be open tonight.
Photo courtesy of Erik Holzherr
(Updated at 4:35 p.m.) With temperatures below freezing, a stretch of Hill East is without electricity again after lights first flickered off last night.
More than 500 Pepco customers in the southeast corner of Capitol Hill, just west of Congressional Cemetery, are without electricity. The first outages were reported about 6 p.m. Sunday and included about 625 customers.
Workers restored service about 10 a.m. Monday, Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey said. Then, electricity disappeared again about 1 p.m.
Traffic signals at Pennsylvania and Potomac avenues SE were also not working.
On Twitter, residents voiced their frustration about the continued outages.
@HillNowNEWS Thanks! Power was restored for a few hours and is now out AGAIN.
— Saul Loeb (@saulloeb) March 2, 2015
20 minutes of power before it goes back out? Glad I didn't reset the clocks and count on the house getting above 60 degrees! @PepcoConnect
— Erica (@Legsforminutes) March 2, 2015
@HillNowNEWS power is out @ 15th and Penn SE.. Again!!
— Daria Dawson (@DariaCharlei) March 2, 2015
Dear Pepco, thanks for saving us money by not allowing us to use electricity for the past 14 hours, but I'd really prefer to be warm. Thanks
— Ben Park (@benparkshere) March 2, 2015
Underground cables were affected by flooding near Pennsylvania and Potomac avenues SE, the Pepco spokesman said this morning.
The latest service restoration time is no later than 5:30 p.m. Work was previously expected to take until 8 p.m.
Photo via Flickr/curiouskiwi
With freezing temperatures outside, many Near Northeast families have no power.
About 260 Pepco customers near 11th and K streets NE had no electricity as of 10:30 a.m. The outage reported about 1 a.m. is expected to be fixed by 2:30 p.m., according to the company’s outage map. An underground equipment failure disrupted service, Pepco said.
A handful of customers elsewhere in Ward 6 have no power now either. Pepco reported problems affecting five or fewer customers at 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NE, 10th and H streets NE, 13th and H streets NE, and 8th Street and Florida Avenue NE.
Stay tuned for updates on when service is expected to return.
Photo via Flickr/curiouskiwi
(Updated at 12:15 p.m.) Some Kingman Park residents needed to manage without power for more than six hours today.
More than 130 customers near 24th Street NE and Benning Road NE had no electricity, Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey said. The outage was first reported at 5:07 a.m. Crews initially anticipated being able to restore power by 11 a.m., and then that estimate was changed to 1 p.m.
Power was back at about 11:30 a.m., Hainey said in an update.
The cause of the outage was not immediately known.
Photo via Flickr/curiouskiwi
About 1,200 Pepco customers are without power near Union Station this afternoon.
The power outage is centered around N. Capitol Street and K Street NE, north of Union Station, according to the Metropolitan Police Department Twitter account.
Power is expected to be restored to the affected Pepco customers around 5:00 p.m.
