US Capitol Evacuated After Losing Power

WASHINGTON – Police ordered an evacuation of the U.S. Capitol shortly after noon Monday after the building lost power. Sirens signaling the evacuation sounded and lawmakers and visitors were told to leave.

It was not immediately clear what the cause of the outage was. A Senate leadership aide said the power system for the Capitol had recently been experiencing what he called low-level difficulties.

Power appeared to be on in nearby office buildings.

Before the evacuation sirens went off, more than 100 visitors sat in the darkened House gallery. They exited with everyone else when the alarm sounded, calmly walking toward exits.

It appeared that emergency generators were activated because some lights flickered back on.

Security officers and other building personnel walked the halls with flashlights.

AP