Power system failure forces evacuations in Detroit

DETROIT (AP) — Sections of downtown Detroit lost power this afternoon after high demand for energy caused the city’s municipal power system to have a major failure, city officials said.

The outage forced the evacuation of the Coleman Young Municipal Center, the McNamara federal building, the county courthouse, Cobo Center and some schools. The outages were spotty — traffic lights were out in certain areas but working in other parts of the downtown district.

Mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas told The Associated Press she was at her desk typing an email when the blackout occurred at 2:30 p.m. Dumas said the outage was due to extreme power demand in the last few days for air conditioning and city officials had been warned a brownout could occur.

She said it could take at least 24 hours to fix the issue, though Detroit’s Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown said he hopes it can be restored by tonight.