Update, 2:52 p.m.: Cause of the power outage has been determined -- a seagull flew into a powerline. Certainly this makes reader Sierra's comment much more sad:

"I live near Sweedish Hospital in Ballard and I heard a boom outside when the power went out. Looked out the window and saw all the birds flying away from the Market St area. I hope the power comes back on soon."

Majority of power will be restored after 3 p.m.

Update, 2:35 p.m.: Estimated time for the power to come back on is 5 p.m. But that could change.

Original: Seattle City Light is en route to find out why a power outage hit Ballard.

Currently, the outage is hitting an estimate of 5,240 residents, from the Ship Canal up north to NW 70th St, west to Puget Sound and east to 9th Ave NW. You can see a map of outages at http://www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

Not everyone is affected.

We'll update with more info.

Follow Ballard News-Tribune on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ballardnewstrib

And Twitter at http://twitter.com/ballardnewstrib