UPDATE: Seattle Power Outage Over After Nearly An Hour Of Darkness

A power outage in Seattle darkened much of the city's downtown are Wednesday afternoon until power was restored nearly an hour later.

Seattle City Light said on Twitter that equipment failure at its Massachusetts Street Substation caused the outage at about 11:40 a.m. The utility reported that power was restored downtown at 12:31 p.m.

The outage created some chaos and confusion in the downtown area, as businesses lost power, and people tried to navigate through the streets.

The Seattle Fire Department said on Twitter the outage was not affecting 9-1-1 service.

Seattle Police sent traffic and parking enforcement officers downtown to help with traffic control, the department said on Twitter. Police also reminded people that intersections where traffic lights are out should be treated as four-way stops.

Seattle residents took to Twitter to share their scenes from the blackout. Some made the most of their experience:

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates as they become available.

Image via Barry Tishgart, Twitter, used with permission.