Power Outage Puts Capitol in Disarray

The U.S. Capitol and a swath of nearby Washington lost electrical power for more than a hour today, throwing the morning activities of Congress into disarray, stranding hundreds in subway tunnels and leaving impatient hordes of tourists milling outside.

The Senate, illuminated from a single emergency ceiling light, began its session with a clerk banging on a wastebasket instead of the usual ceremonial bell ringing.

“I feel powerless this morning,” cracked Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) as he looked around the darkened chamber.

“Let candles be brought,” intoned Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.).

Members of Congress, their staff and reporters were allowed to enter the darkened Capitol, but most tourists were kept outside the building by Capitol police until power was restored.

Failure at Substation

Much of the Capitol’s elaborate new security network depends on electricity, including metal detectors and X-ray machines.

The city’s electric utility said it did not know the exact cause of the outage, but said it stemmed from a failure at a substation at the foot of Capitol Hill.

The lights went out at 8:56 a.m. in the Capitol, the Senate office buildings, the Supreme Court, the Labor Department, the Library of Congress and other nearby office buildings.

Just after 10 a.m., power was restored to much of the Capitol and other buildings.

Shortly after 11 a.m., less than an hour before the House was due to resume business, full power was restored to the House side of the Capitol as well.

House Hearings Continued

Many Senate hearings were canceled or postponed because of the darkened committee rooms. House hearings continued in the unaffected House office buildings.

Hundreds of people were stranded on Metro trains and in Metro stations near the Capitol when the power failed.

Lights flicked out in the Gallery Place station downtown, leaving commuters in darkness on the underground platform. Less than a minute later, a subway train with about 200 passengers aboard ground to a halt 100 feet from the Judiciary Square station.

At least four people were rescued from an elevator stuck between floors in the Capitol. Senate employees rescued the four by prying open the doors and putting up a ladder for them to climb down.