Power outage darkens SMC
Observer Staff Report
American Electric Power and security officials continue to investigate the cause of an early morning power outage that touched nearly all of Saint Mary's campus.
All buildings except Regina Hall and Moreau Center for the Arts lost electricity at approximately 1:15 a.m.
For students in residence halls, this meant everything from complete darkness to lack of heat to a non-functioning voice mail system. For one woman, the effects were far greater.
A student was trapped in the elevator of Holy Cross Hall for more than two hours. Saint Mary's security, repair persons and resident assistants on duty responded to the scene.
Elevator repair persons were called to manually raise or lower the elevator to gain access to the doors. Contact with the student was maintained throughout the work, according to security officials. She suffered no physical harm as a result of the ordeal.
The loss of power inconvenienced students whose studies and activities were disrupted. Computer systems in the buildings with power were also down, cutting students off from this resource campus-wide.
Because of the immediacy of the situation of the woman in the elevator, the investigation into the cause of the power outage was delayed. The local power company had been contacted and was reportedly working on the problem, but at press time the power had not been restored, and no cause for the blackout could be identified.
All News Stories for Friday, December 3, 1999
