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Officials: No known link to terrorism in DC power outages

Chris Cellini of Charlotte, N.C., left, lifts his son Aiden Cellini, 5, onto his shoulders after a visit to the Natural History Museum on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Widespread power outages affected the White House, State Department, Capitol and other sites across Washington and its suburbs Tuesday afternoon — all because of an explosion at a power plant in southern Maryland, an official said. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Chris Cellini of Charlotte, N.C., left, lifts his son Aiden Cellini, 5, onto his shoulders after a visit to the Natural History Museum on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Widespread power outages affected the White House, State Department, Capitol and other sites across Washington and its suburbs Tuesday afternoon — all because of an explosion at a power plant in southern Maryland, an official said. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By Associated Press April 7, 2015 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Widespread power outages affected sites across Washington and its suburbs Tuesday afternoon. Officials have cited an explosion at a Maryland power plant and say there’s no known link to terrorism.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest says Homeland Security has “indicated they don’t currently see a nexus to terrorism or anything like that” in the outages.

Michael Czin, a spokesman for District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, cited an equipment failure.

The White House, State Department, Justice Department and Capitol were all briefly affected. Power also went out at the University of Maryland and various Smithsonian museums. Several were evacuated.

Metro said 14 of its 91 public transit stations were affected. A spokesman says power to trains remains on, with trains moving systemwide.

By officials’ counts, at least 28,000 customers in the metro area were affected.