The Douglas County Courthouse was closed all day Monday because of a power outage.

Instead of checking everyone through metal detectors, courthouse security was turning everyone away from the courthouse.

“We just walked up to the courthouse and the gentleman came out. And he told us that the courthouse was closed today because of a power outage,” said Jennifer Gonzales. “And I thought there were back-up generators. But apparently there's not.”

The courthouse does have a backup generator. But it only provides enough power to run two elevators and emergency lighting.

Some who showed up to the courthouse Monday were directed next door to the City-County Building, which wasn't affected by the power outage.

Brian Tehan brought his daughters Emily and Abby with him to take care of some business.

“Just taking care of some paperwork, a ticket,” said Tehan. “It looks like they were without power. But they were nice enough to let me take my daughters in and take a look at the [rotunda] ceiling.”

The power outage happened Sunday evening about 5:45 when a cable failed and caused a fire underground near 17th and St. Mary's Avenue.

Jodi Baker is a spokesperson for OPPD.

“Part of the problem is the cable was so severely damaged by the fire, that they really have to just pull it all out and replace it,” said Baker. “And that's really time consuming. So that is slowing down the process a little bit.”