Seward Police Officer Don Guenther directs traffic at the intersection of Sixth and Seward streets on Aug. 15. Downtown Seward experienced a blackout for approximately a half hour at mid day.

    Portions of downtown Seward had no power for approximately a half hour on Aug. 15, caused by an equipment failure in Seward's substation on Ash Street, according to City Administrator Dan Berlowitz.
     Berlowitz said the city crew spent two and a half hours working to get the equipment back online. During the blackout, some businesses were completely in the dark while others, such as Jones National Bank, had partial power before also going completely black.
     "It involved some wiring that overheated and caused a couple of transformers in that substation to go out temporarily," Berlowitz said.
     Employees of downtown businesses stepped out of their darkened offices during the blackout, and Seward police officers directed traffic at intersections where the traffic lights were out.