Power Outages Hit White House, State Department In Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON D.C. – At the White House, reporters watching Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential announcement were suddenly interrupted by a power outage at the White House.

After about 5-10 seconds, however, power was restored in the press area.

According to the Washington Post, homeland security officials reported that an explosion at a Maryland electrical facility is believed to have caused a surge that knocked out power.

The outage also hit the State Department in the middle of their daily press briefing, prompting reporters present to tweet out photos of the briefing continuing in darkness.

More video: This is what a State Department briefing is like during a power outage. — @ABC pic.twitter.com/wyj4azSGp7

— Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) April 7, 2015

After the power outage, White House staff announced that the daily press briefing would be postponed until 1:30 p.m. Here’s a map showing where the power went out.