Power outages forced the District of Columbia Courthouse to shut down business, evacuate inmates and send jurors home.
The problems began during the weekend, when one of the courthouse’s three feeders went down, forcing the complex to run on the remaining two lines.
The second feeder shorted out at about 3 p.m. Monday, leaving most of the courthouse in the dark.
U.S. Marshals safely evacuated the inmates through the dimness, out of the courthouse and over to the D.C. Jail, said Robert Brandt, supervisory deputy for D.C. Superior Court. For security reasons, Brandt said, he could not go into detail how they managed the evacuation.
“Nobody was placed in any kind of jeopardy,” Brandt said.
He could not say how many inmates were moved.
On Tuesday, arraignment hearings were moved to a courtroom that still had power, but the rest of the courthouse remained closed as Pepco crews worked to repair two of the complex’s three feeder lines, Pepco spokesman Bob Dobkin said.
The problem may have been caused by the mud and water that filled the manholes after Sunday’s snow, Dobkin said.
Salt and chemicals sprayed on the streets can corrode the wiring, causing a fault in the feeders, Dobkin said.
More than 790 customers in Foggy Bottom, including four hotels, were without power Monday night after a transformer blew during maintenance at a substation at 21st and L streets Northwest.
