We're getting reports this evening that there's a subway power outage in San Francisco, resulting in Muni metro lines being "totally dead."

According to MuniAlerts: "Subway outage may last all night. Shuttle buses are running, but jam-packed and slow. Double-up on cabs if you can!"

MuniAlerts goes on to report that "[l]ight rail lines appear to be running on surface streets, but are stopping at Market St tunnel." As we write this (from the chilly living room of your editor), we can only imagine how cold it must be for those of your stuck on platforms. What's worse, Twitter ilk are reporting that shuttle service is spotty and hard to find. Sigh.

Update: 6:45 p.m.: 511 has more details on tonight's outage. " Muni subway service has been disrupted due to overhead wires being down at Van Ness Station in the inbound direction. Muni bus shuttles are operating between Embarcadero and Castro stations. "

Update 7:28 p.m. : CBS 5's Joe Vazquez (@JoeCBS5) reports: "Muni spokesman Judson True says tr[a]in repair could take hours, May not be ready until the morning commute." (Also, why is there no mention of this major Muni meltdown on SFGate yet? Strange. Wonder if it has something to do with reports saying that "Muni waited an hour to send an alert to the media.")

Update 7:40 p.m.: Check out Muni Metro Subway Alternates for alternate service info. (Note: Buses are "packed" with cold, angry Muni customers.)

Update 7:50 p.m.: Joe Vazquez (@JoeCBS5) says: "There's a fair amount of overhead wire down. Crews will be down there for the next many hours. Trains to resume at 5:30 AM." Which is to say, you can forget about taking the underground tonight, folks.

Update 8:20 p.m.: MTA spokesman Judson True explains what happened.