Power outage impacts Quinnipiac
January 21, 2019
A power outage is impacting the Quinnipiac community this evening.
“We learned of the power outage just after 8 p.m. this evening, and it’s apparently part of a wider power outage that affects Whitney Avenue as well,” Associate Vice President for Public Relations, John Morgan, said in a statement to Q30. “So as far as we’re concerned, it affects the York Hill campus obviously and the residence halls up there, as well as the homes the university owns on Kimberly Avenue.”
There is a generator on the York Hill campus that was working when the campus lost power from the storm over the weekend, but it is currently not working. Morgan explained that they do not know why it is not running, but they are addressing the issue. At this time, there is emergency lighting and heat.
Morgan said that the Emergency Management Team is meeting to discuss what they will be doing with students if the outage lasts into the night.
“This is a situation that we will address if it does become a prolonged situation,” Morgan said. “At this point, we’re hoping it’s something that’s much more short term.”
Morgan suggested that students who have friends with power go there for the time being until theirs is restored.
As of now, classes are still scheduled to operate normally despite the power outage and below freezing temperatures expected for tomorrow.
Earlier this evening, Keith Woodward, Associate Vice President for Facilities Operations and Co-Chair of the Emergency Management Team, sent out an email to update the Quinnipiac community on the conditions of all three campuses. They are all in good shape, but there may still be icy spots tomorrow. Students, faculty and staff should use precaution when walking on campus and dress appropriately for the cold weather. The Pine Grove on the Mount Carmel campus will remain closed until further notice due to strong winds.
“We thank all the students for their patience,” Morgan said. “We know it’s a cold weekend and not having power adds to that problem.”
The cause of the power outage is still unknown.
The generator began working on the York Hill campus shortly after 11 p.m, and commercial power is back at university-owned houses on Kimberly Avenue. United Illuminating is still working on restoring commercial power to York Hill, but there is no estimated restoration time.
Updated 11:55 p.m. January 21, 2019. This article will be updated as new information is released.