USA Today – by Robert Allen, Elisha Anderson, and Doug Stanglin
DETROIT — A massive power outage throughout the city on Tuesday knocked out electricity to most public buildings, trapping many people in elevators and cutting power to police departments, fire stations, schools, jails and traffic lights.
A city spokesman said most of municipal grid was down. Some police officers speaking to their dispatcher on police scanners said they were concerned about running out of gasoline because gas pumps were down.
Affected buildings included Detroit Institute of Arts, Wayne State, and the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, which people evacuated by stairwells, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Detroit Fire Department dispatchers are checking with stations across the area to determine whether their garage doors were open before the power went out, the newspaper reports.
SERVICE ADVISORY: System delay due to power disruption in service area. DPM on hold until recovery. Apologies for the inconvenience.
— Detroit People Mover (@detpeoplemover) December 2, 2014
A number of fire stations were on generator power, and all are able to take calls by landline or radio, according to Detroit Fire dispatch radio traffic. A fire department spokeswoman wasn’t immediately able to confirm the outages.
The ongoing murder trial of Bob Bashara was abruptly paused after the lights flickered and went out. People are evacuating the courthouse by the stairwell.
Meanwhile, many non-public buildings are unaffected.
Reports of the outages began flooding fire department radio traffic shortly after 10:30 a.m. today, with dispatchers checking to make sure the stations were able to open their garage doors.
Robert Allen and Elisha Anderson report for the Detroit Free Press
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/02/detroit-power-outage/19777223/
Wasn’t power down throughout the Eastern Seaboard a few days ago due to that big snowstorm? And now power is out in Detroit? Someone is definitely messing around with the grid.