WASHINGTON, D.C.-According to the National Weather Service, heavy rains, sometimes accompanied by lightning and heavy winds, will continue to batter the Washington, D.C., area at least through tonight and into tomorrow morning. This will sustain and possibly worsen flooding in areas scattered across Pepco's service territory. Sustained wet and rainy conditions-which continue to bring trees and branches down on power lines and flood many underground electrical facilities-have already extended power outages and are still causing new ones.

While crews work 16-hour shifts around the clock to restore power to all as soon as possible, Pepco wants our customers to stay safe during these hazardous conditions.

IF YOUR POWER IS OUT, Pepco urges customers to heed the following safety tips:

• All lines should be treated as if they are energized. Do not approach them or touch them.
• If you see a downed wire, report it to Pepco at 202-872-3432.
• Never attempt to remove trees or limbs from any utility line. Assume all objects touching a power line are energized.
• Keep away from flooded areas and stay indoors. Even wading in a shallow puddle or flooded basement that is exposed to an energized line could cause a harmful or fatal electrical contact.
• Keep children and pets inside and away from standing water.
• If your basement is flooded, DO NOT attempt to turn off power or operate circuit breakers while standing in water.
• Turn off all appliances, including your furnace, air conditioner, water heater and water pump. That way, you can avoid a circuit overload and another outage that may result when power is restored to all appliances at once
• Unplug sensitive electronics and turn off power to flood-prone basement appliances if you can safely do so.
• (NOTE: Do not turn off power to sump pumps.)
• Leave on one lamp so you'll know when the power is restored.
• If you use a portable generator, always operate it outside, away from doors and windows, to avoid deadly carbon monoxide.
• For your safety and the safety of Pepco employees working to restore power, do not connect your generator directly into your home's main fuse box or circuit panel. Improperly connected generators can feed electricity back into the electrical system, endangering field personnel working to restore your power. Consult a qualified electrical contractor if a permanent generator installation is desired.

REPORT OUTAGES IMMEDIATELY

Pepco urges customers to report outages via the company's automated phone system. This automated system enables us to more quickly locate the cause of the outage and schedule repairs in an efficient and orderly manner. If power has been restored in the customer's neighborhood but not to their home, they should call and report the outage again; there could be a secondary problem in the neighborhood or even at the customer's service connection.

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Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable electric service to more than 745,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.