The hammering man isn't hammering. Power out all over downtown. pic.twitter.com/lP77dHEMqr

— Jayson Jenks (@JaysonJenks) May 25, 2016

A major power outage caused by equipment failure at a substation swept across downtown Seattle from Pioneer Square to the waterfront Wednesday just before noon. The outage could last hours, according to Seattle City Light. UPDATE: City Light has bumped up its estimate and now predict service should be restored by 12:40 PM. Some reports of restored power began to trickle out around 12:15 PM. UPDATE x2: Power was restored around 12:30 PM. City Light says no customer count is yet available but around 12,000 meters were involved in the outage. The investigation of the cause of the equipment failure is underway.

Equipment failure at Massachusetts Street Substation has caused a large outage. ETOR a couple hours. Updates to come.

— Seattle City Light (@SEACityLight) May 25, 2016

Reports of the outage across the downtown core began around 11:40 AM.

Seattle Fire was scrambling to deal with several reports of fire alarms being set off by the failure and people stuck in elevators. SPD said traffic and parking enforcement officers were being deployed downtown to assist with traffic control.

Buildings including the Seattle Art Museum and Seattle City Hall were reported without power as well as several office buildings and stores and restaurants across downtown.

There were no reports in the early going of the outage spreading across I-5 to Capitol Hill.

City Light officials said repair work after the equipment failure at the Massachusetts Street Substation could take hours.