A power outage in Washington on Monday left about 1,100 Pepco customers without electricity, including some State Department offices, while a viral social media post raised broader concerns by combining the incident with power disruptions from different locations and dates.

The outage stemmed from a problem at the I Street electrical substation in the Foggy Bottom neighbourhood, according to the information provided. It occurred a day before the US midterm elections.

The post, published by cryptocurrency news and analysis channel Coin Bureau on YouTube and X, was labelled "ALARMING" and presented seven claims about power outages. While some referred to the Washington incident, others cited nationwide outages and disruptions at polling places in Arizona during the state's July 21 primaries.

The combination of these events created the impression that power infrastructure was failing across the United States just as voters prepared to cast their ballots.

However, the incidents cited do not all relate to the same location or time period.

The Washington outage was a genuine incident affecting a limited number of customers, while the Arizona polling-place disruptions referenced in the post occurred months earlier, during the July 21 primaries.

The distinction is important because presenting separate incidents without their original dates and contexts can give a misleading impression of a coordinated or widespread disruption.

The available information does not establish a link between the Washington outage and the earlier Arizona incidents, nor does it demonstrate that the power disruptions were connected to the upcoming midterm elections. (ILKHA)