Outage causing chaos in Northwest Washington

Pepco is reporting a power outage in Northwest Washington along Massachusetts Avenue, in the vicinity of Yuma and Tilden streets, which has knocked out traffic lights in the area, just as people are scurrying to prepare for tomorrow's snow storm.

Spokesman Clay Anderson says the outage, caused by a tripped circuit feeder, started at 10:05 a.m. and is affecting about 640 customers, mostly residential. But there are reports of supermarkets in the area with no power and parking lots jammed with anxious shoppers.

Anderson said Pepco crews are on the scene and hope to have power restored by about 1 p.m. "We do realize there are some traffic signals that are out," Anderson said. "We do realize the urgency and are working to get on top of it."

-- Michael Ruane