A power surge

[debodun]

About an hour ago, my computer suddenly shut off and the room light flashed. It only happened for a second and the power came right back on. My computer modem rebooted (a lot faster than my cable box takes). It apparently only affected the room I have my computer in as no clocks or electronics in other rooms were flashing as they do after a power interruption. If it was a general outage, everything would have gone out. No storms, even though there was a light rain earlier. Any idea what caused it?

A few weeks ago, the power went out in the living room circuit, but didn't come back until I flicked the circuit breaker switch.

 

[NorthernLight]

Sometimes, when the power goes out for just a second, it affects some things but not others. So I'm wondering whether it was in fact a general outage?

 

[Fyrefox]

In a rural area, I get frequent fleeting power outages and surges. Then there are the longer ones lasting hours when a tree or limb falls onto a power line, or some yahoo loses control of his vehicle and smashes into one. Squirrels will also stage suicide attacks on transformers, knocking everything out…”Banzai!,” they shriek in their high-pitched tiny voices.

The brief outages will usually knock some but not all of my power-connected digital clocks off line, and they will flash maddeningly at you until you reset them. A surge recently scrambled the electronic brains of my answering machine, driving me to the manual to reset it…