The Shorthorn - Power outage in Arlington affects more than 1,400 Thursday afternoon

HOME

Campus Life

Power outage in Arlington affects more than 1,400 Thursday afternoon

Written by Jason Joyce, The Shorthorn staff

Thursday, 09 April 2009 05:01 PM

Locations Affected

On-campus locations left without power:

Legacy Heights apartments
Lipscomb Hall
Swift Center
Maple Square apartments
Aerodynamics Research Building
UTA Bookstore
Continuing Education-Workforce Development Center

High winds and a damaged power distribution line were the two factors behind Thursday’s power outage that left more than 1,400 in Arlington, including at least seven campus locations without power for at least an hour, said officials with the electric delivery company Oncor.

The outage left students and staff in those locations without power between about 4:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., according to university police-issued emergency announcements.

Dinesh Davuluru, electrical engineering graduate student, said he didn’t notice the loss of power until someone came knocking on his door at Legacy Heights apartments.

“I was sleeping until I was woken by a loud banging on the door,” he said. “I opened it to find a cop outside who told me the power was out.”

In the UTA Bookstore, assistant manager Valeta Gart and bookstore employees gathered in the middle of the store to hear whether the manager would decide to close early.

Wildfires

High winds contributed to the university’s partial power outage. North Texas wildfires caused in part by high winds were the cause for haze in Arlington and Forth Worth skies, according to the Associated Press.

The store was eventually closed early and hand-written signs stating “No power – Closed” were taped to the locked front doors.

Electrical engineering junior Hershil Shaw said he’d been at home when the power simply stopped at around 4:30 p.m., and the announcements on the emergency system began.

Like Dayuluru, Shaw spent the next hour or so napping until power was restored around 5:45 p.m.

Thursday’s power outage left the Arlington Police Department scrambling to take over traffic control at intersections left without working traffic lights in the surrounding areas, including Park Row Drive and Pecan Street.

By 5:48 p.m., power was restored to all campus locations except the Continuing Education-Workforce Development Center, said Kristin Sullivan, media relations assistant vice president. The building did not appear to have power at press time.

By 6:45, Arlington police confirmed power to traffic signals had been restored and traffic was back to normal.

Views: 1258 | E-mail

Be first to comment this article

Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 June 2009 11:38 AM )

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]