A power outage in the Downtown area was reported about 1:44 p.m., leaving some buildings and traffic signals dark in the vicinity of Kapi'olani and South streets.

Peter Rosegg, a spokesman with Hawaiian Electric Co., said he didn't yet know how widespread the outage was. A crew was on the way to the substation to assess the situation, he said.

Lights were working a block makai on Queen Street, and about 2:15 p.m. Rosegg noted that HECO headquarters on King Street had power. He said it was beginning to look like a localized outage in the Kapi'olani-South Street area.

Honolulu police said they had received reports of an explosion near Ward Avenue. HPD headquarters on Beretania has electricity, a dispatcher said.