Power has been restored after several government buildings in and around Washington D.C. were briefly in the dark on Tuesday afternoon.
WUSA-TV noted that the lights went out for thousands of customers after an explosion at a Maryland power plant. The power surge affected the White House, the Capitol building, the State Department and the University of Maryland among others. The university closed at 2 p.m.
Many of the downtown D.C. buildings have backup generators and only experienced the darkness for a few moments until they kicked on.
The Associated Press reported that the power outage happened as Oprah Winfrey was giving remarks during the Maya Angelou stamp ceremony. However, Winfrey remained professional and continued on even after the lights and her microphone went out.
Several tourists at the Smithsonian, the National Portrait Gallery, the Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of Natural History were forced to evacuate.
The FBI assured citizens and visitors to the area that they had no reason to believe that power going out was in any way terror-related.