On the evening of Nov. 27, a small plane containing two passengers crashed into a powerline in Gaithersburg. The crash caused power outages all over the county in homes as well as schools. “The plane crash was unexpected to me,” freshman Peyton Higgens said.

Around 5:30 pm, people noticed power flickering in their homes or an immediate loss of power. The plane that had crashed had two passengers – the pilot and a woman. Both were recovered from the plane and taken to a hospital to have injuries assessed. Both recovered. “I am happy that not a lot of people were injured and no one died,” sophomore Gabriella Wallace.
People had flickering power and a loss of power in their homes, but were in the dark about what was happening. The crash hadn’t made it to the news when power first went out. Many people found out through Tiktok or Instagram. “At first I was really confused but I was driving home from Deep Creek and saw all the fog and figured that had something to do with it,” Wallace said.

Some lost power as soon as the plane hit the powerline. People had to find other ways to keep a normal routine without electricity. As it got dark, people used phone flashlights, electric candles, or regular candles to keep their houses lit. “It was like a surge in accidents happened because of that,” computer science teacher Anthony Shadman said.

For many, they didn’t know the cause of the flickering power or blackouts as they had no internet. “At first I was confused,” Wallace said.

The blackout lasted several hours and wasn’t restored in most houses until late at night, leaving people to go several hours with no power, meaning no light or heat.. “I feel like the entire time the blackout was happening I was hearing sirens,” Shadman said.

With power outages throughout the county not only in people’s homes, but also in schools, MCPS closed the following day. “It’s hard to coordinate getting to and from school in emergency situations like that,” Shadman said.

According to The Washington Post, most power was restored at 1:30 a.m. on Monday, however blackouts around the county were still being reported at the time. All schools were not reported to have power until close to a.m.. The decision to close schools was one that proved to be the right move. “MCPS closing schools was a good thing since some people and schools still didn’t have power,” Higgens said.