Downtown L.A. Power Line Cut

Construction crews accidentally severed a 4,800-volt cable at Aliso and Alameda streets at about 7 this morning, knocking out power to City Hall, Union Station, the Federal Courthouse and dozens of other buildings in a 15-block area around the Los Angeles Civic Center for 2 1/2 to three hours.

Elevators were stalled, traffic lights went out and buildings were forced to switch to emergency lighting, but there were no reports of mishaps or injuries because of the outage. Amtrak said no train service was affected. Department of Water and Power crews restored full service to the area by 10 a.m.