OUTAGE AFFECTS CAMPUS

Academic Hall was powerless most of the day Wednesday after an electrical cable shorted out after midnight.

Power wasn't restored until after 4 p.m., after offices had already closed for the day.

The power outage initially caused the main breaker to open at Southeast Missouri State University's electrical substation, triggering a campuswide blackout.

"It literally opened the switch and we were off line from Union Electric," said Mark Vogel, assistant director of the university's physical plant.

An Academic Hall employee said the outage occurred around 12:30 a.m.

The outage occurred on a 13.8-kilovolt line that provides power to not only Academic Hall but several other university buildings, including the University Center and Memorial Hall, Vogel said.

Vogel said power was restored to most of the campus buildings by 3 a.m.

"We went back through and started closing breakers. We thought we had the whole (switch) yard back up in operation and then we found out we didn't have power in Academic Hall."

At that point, physical plant employees isolated the underground line going to Academic Hall. Power was restored to other affected buildings, such as the University Center, by about 4 a.m., Vogel said.

Physical plant crews hooked up a portable, diesel generator to provide power to the central computer in Academic Hall. The hallways had emergency lighting, but university offices remained dim -- illuminated only by the sunlight coming through the windows.

Vogel said university crews had to wait for delivery of splicing "components" from St. Louis before the cable could be repaired.