Airport officials opened a few gates early Sunday afternoon in the wake of a lengthy power failure that has hampered weekend operations and stranded many passengers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The outage, which began about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, has caused Delta Airlines to cancel more than 250 flights, according to a company spokeswoman. All of the shutdowns affected flights operated by Delta Airlines or its regional carriers.

Concourses A, B, C and D in the main terminal, which used to be known as the Lindbergh Terminal, were closed most of Saturday. All of those concourses except B had power restored around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Early Sunday afternoon, seven of the 16 gates at concourse B were reopened, said Melissa Scovronski, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. Crews hope to open three more later Sunday, she said.

The gates are not at full power, so passengers will probably notice temperature controls down in the concourse and nonoperational moving walkways, Scovronski said.

The current power fix is temporary, she said. Officials still don't know the cause of the outage, Scovronski said, adding that it may take weeks for a permanent fix to be completed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495