A massive power outage at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Thursday brought the world's largest technology show to a standstill. The outage affected all of the convention center's more than 1 million square feet of exhibit space, forcing tens of thousands of attendees to evacuate.

"We are experiencing a power outage at the Las Vegas Convention Center. All exhibiting space has been evacuated. Attendees are asked to leave the building and return when power is restored," the CES Twitter account announced.

The power outage began at around 11:45 a.m. local time and lasted for more than two hours. The outage was caused by a transformer failure in the underground electrical vault.

The outage disrupted the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is one of the largest and most important tech shows in the world. CES attracts more than 180,000 attendees each year to see the latest gadgets and technology trends.

The power outage caused long delays and frustration for attendees who were trying to enter the convention center. Many attendees had to wait in line for hours to get back in.

"This is ridiculous. I've been waiting in line for over an hour just to get back in," one attendee said.

The power outage also affected the CES live stream, which prevented millions of people from watching the show online.

CES officials said that the power outage did not cause any damage to the convention center or to any of the exhibits. The show is expected to resume on Friday as scheduled.

The power outage at CES was a reminder of the importance of having a backup power plan in place. If the power had been out for longer, the outage could have caused significant damage to the convention center and the exhibits.

It is also a reminder of the importance of having batteries on hand in case of an emergency. When the power goes out, batteries can provide power for your lights, your phone, and other essential devices.