LEWISTON – Parts of the downtown went dark Thursday afternoon after an underground circuit blew at about 3:30 p.m.

Among the buildings that lost power were the U.S. Post Office, the Public Library and the Sun Journal. Central Maine Power officials said the outrage affected a small area encompassing Ash, Park and Pine streets and surrounding areas.

By 4 p.m., crews were digging up a cable to make repairs to the damaged circuit. It was not immediately clear what caused it to fail.

While business was forced to a halt at the library, at the newspaper and other locations, the rest of the downtown was unaffected.

CMP officials did not say how long it would take to repair the damage.