DOWNEY, Calif. (KABC) -- A transformer failure at a Southern California Edison substation in the Downey/Norwalk area led to a widespread power outage in multiple cities on Tuesday.

The outage occurred around 1:30 p.m. and about 25,000 people are impacted at this hour, according to SCE.

"We know that every outage is a hardship (and) crews are working as quickly as they can to safely restore power," SCE spokesman Jeff Monford said.

He said crews were able to re-route power to get most impacted customers back online relatively quickly.

Metro C (Green) Line trains were halted between the Norwalk and Willowbrook/Rose Parks stations due to the power issue. Buses were brought in to shuttle passengers between the stations, according to the transit agency.

There were also reports of traffic lights being out at multiple intersections and shopping centers closed as a result of the power outage. It was unclear exactly how far the outage spread, but there were reports of electricity being out in areas including Santa Fe Springs, Bellflower, Whittier, Compton, Lakewood and South Gate.

This is a breaking news story. We will update this story as new information becomes available.