Strong southerly winds caused at least 2,500 Douglas County residents to lose electricity Wednesday afternoon.

A majority of the power outage was in central Lawrence, where traffic lights were out on some stretches of Ninth and Sixth streets east of Iowa Street.

The traffic signals went blank for several minutes, snagging already heavy traffic about 5 p.m.

“They went out just for a short while,” Lawrence police Sgt. Mark Warren said. “A few minutes.”

By 6:30 p.m., traffic lights were running and all but three Lawrence residences had power.

Douglas County emergency dispatchers were briefly without their main power Wednesday afternoon, according to a dispatcher.

Erin Dehn, spokeswoman for Westar Energy, said wind contributed to power outages across the state.

“Probably one of the biggest (causes of outages) is tree branches blow into the power lines, and that can cause outages,” she said. “Some of the winds, being as strong as they are, they can knock around the wires and cause outages.”

Lawrence was under a wind advisory from the National Weather Service most of the afternoon and evening with sustained winds between 30 and 35 miles per hour and some gusts exceeding 40 mph.