Power outage hits downtown Seattle

A massive power outage hit downtown Seattle in the U.S. Pacific Northwest Wednesday morning.

The cause of the disruption, which started about 11:30 a.m. local time, was believed to be an equipment failure at Massachusetts Street Substation.

However, "we don't have a lot of information right now," Connie McDougall, of Seattle City Light, was quoted as saying by media reports. "They are estimating a restoration time within a few hours."

Seattle firefighters were responding to at least eight calls for elevator rescues by around noon, as elevators ground to a halt and lights went out across the downtown area. In addition, within the same area, about 60 percent of traffic signals have been affected. Enditem