Power outages force several museums on DC's National Mall to close early
WASHINGTON - On one of the hottest days of summer yet, power is out at several museums along D.C.'s National Mall.
Multiple museums and nearby businesses were reportedly without power. The Newseum announced via Twitter that they would be closed for the rest of Friday.
Smithsonian said the Freer, National Museum of African Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, National Museum of the American Indian and the Ripley Center will be closed for the rest of Friday as a result of the outages. The USDA building was also impacted.
The Castle, The National Museum of Natural History, the American History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum were all still open with normal hours.
According to Pepco, an underground equipment failure at around noon near 3rd and E Streets in Southwest D.C. caused the power outage that affected parts of the Smithsonian, the federal government and about 200 Pepco customers. The cause of the outage is still under investigation, but Pepco said it does not believe it was due to the extreme heat at this time.
Crews have been sent to repair the underground equipment and Pepco said power is expected to be restored by noon on Saturday.
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