Power Failure Causes Havoc Downtown

"As we go forward, I want to get assurances from Pepco that this kind of technical problem could not cause so much of a blackout," he said. "I understand there were storms and the heat . . . but I want to talk with Pepco about how to make sure that if there is a technical problem, it cannot result in this much of an outage."

Pepco officials said the safety systems that caused the automatic shutdown worked as they should.

Thomas Graham, Pepco's regional president, said the company estimated that power would be back on by 10 a.m. Many customers had lights again by 9:50 a.m., and power was completely restored to the city center by 10:15 a.m., he said.

Across the city, generators installed for just such an emergency revved up, and lights came back on. The White House functioned smoothly with one generator, and Pepco's own generator powered the utility's downtown headquarters, Graham said.

But the District's Department of Transportation decided not to use the generators it bought with $3 million received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ensure that traffic lights would function during a blackout, spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said.

"Pepco indicated they felt the power would be up before noon, so we opted not to use the generators for the power outage this morning," LeBlanc said.

The department received the generators last year after summer storms knocked out traffic signals for days along the Mall. The generators take about 90 minutes to restore power to signals along evacuation routes, LeBlanc said.

That decision was discussed during a conference call between the District's agencies to coordinate the response, said Darrell Darnell, director of D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Metro does not have backup generators at its stations, but generators were sent out to boost the emergency light systems, Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said.

The trains are powered separately by an electrified third rail, and commuters trapped in the dark stumbled out of five downtown stations by augmenting the stations' dim emergency lights with the glow of their cellphones.

Normal service resumed by about 1 p.m., and the afternoon commute was smooth.

Stranded riders who had to exit at stations that had no functioning Farecard machines or escalators -- Dupont Circle, Shaw-Howard, Farragut North, Farragut West and McPherson Square -- were not charged for those rides, Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato said. The Farecard machines were reprogrammed and operating smoothly for the afternoon commute.