Car accident sparks power outage on campus

Around approximately 3 p.m. on Friday, March 23, the power went out across various facilities on campus. The power outage extended to the traffic lights on the intersection of Louis J. Rodriguez Drive and Midwestern Parkway.

According to Mike Richardson, assistant director of the wellness center, the power outage was due to an accident that happened during construction near campus.

“Apparently, there was people who were doing construction,” Richardson said. “They ran over a power line and electricity to half the campus was cut off. They’re going to cut power off here [at the wellness center] to reset the breakers.”

Steve Hilton, associate professor of the Juanita and Ralph Harvey School of Visual Arts, said he smelled what could be an electrical fire in the Fain Fine Arts Building and alerted maintenance.

Students in the Fain Fine Arts Building said they could also smell an electrical heat smell.

“If you walk down the hall [in the Fain Fine Arts Building], it smells like an electrical heat smell,” Joshua Poling, music education sophomore, said.

Because the severity and cause of the electrical outage wasn’t clear at the time, students were also told to leave the Fain Fine Arts building until further notice.

According to Gabby Russell, music education senior, they told all of the students in the Fain Fine Arts Building to evacuate because “they did not want anyone in there” for safety reasons.

Due to issues with the power company, Facilities Services had to unexpectedly shut down power to campus to prevent damage to equipment.

It is anticipated that power will not be restored until after 5 p.m.

Due to this outage, university offices have closed early.

— Midwestern State (@MidwesternState) March 23, 2018

At 4:25 p.m., the official university twitter stated “Due to issues with the power company, Facilities Services had to unexpectedly shut down power to campus to prevent damage to equipment. It is anticipated that power will not be restored until after 5 p.m. Due to this outage, university offices have closed early.”

However, around 4:45 p.m., the power came back to buildings such as Legacy Hall and the wellness center, and the university twitter tweeted power had been restored to the entire campus at 4:53 p.m.

Power has been restored to the entire campus.

— Midwestern State (@MidwesternState) March 23, 2018

Additional reporting by Markell Braxton-Johnson, Chloe Phillips and Cortney Wood.