The University of Richmond canceled classes when the campus lost power after a snake got into the main power plant Sunday night, according to UR facilities.
“Following a thorough analysis, we have discovered that a central piece of equipment that safely delivers electrical power to our campus has sustained significant damage," according to an email from UR communications. "The timeline for restoration remains unclear, but we are expecting to steadily bring power to buildings over a period of time.”
Michael Carpenter, an UR facilities event technician, said that it could take a while for the entire campus to go back to normal.
“It could be this week or it could be several months,” Carpenter said. “The whole main power distribution center exploded.”
The outage caused several core parts of the campus to lose power, including Tyler Haynes Commons, Boatwright Memorial Library, and multiple dorms.
Carpenter said that holiday weekend made it hard for the facilities team to move in generators to reestablish power.
“Being Easter Sunday we can't get a lot of generators so tomorrow we're going to have a lot of generators coming,” Carpenter said.
Other dorms have seemingly regained the lights sporadically, but still have no electricity or air conditioning.
Sophomore Luke Hedlund who lives in Keller Hall said he isn't too worried about the situation and even appreciates seeing how the outage forced students outside and away from their work.
“I love it,” Hedlund said.“It's a fun vibe on campus.”
Sophomore Tommy Cahill who lives in North Court is amused because this isn't the first time he has encountered maintenance issues on campus.
“Overall, I'm actually a little annoyed, because this is a renovated part of North and my roof has leaked twice already, and we've had a bunch of other issues with the elevator and lots of other facilities,” he said. “The fact that the power went out is a little annoying, given that they renovated the school, and it seemed like they did the due diligence when it comes to making sure everything functions correctly.”
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This is a developing story.
Contact managing editor andrea.padilla@richmond.edu
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