A late night thunderstorm caused a power outage on the St. Thomas campus early Friday morning, leaving Flynn and Morrison halls and a number of other St. Thomas-affiliated buildings on Grand, Finn and Summit avenues without electricity, according to an email from the St. Thomas Innovation and Technology Services Tech Desk.
The outage occurred around 3 a.m., and emergency power was restored to most of campus by 9 a.m.
According to a tweet by Xcel Energy, over 82,000 customers have been affected.
There are currently 82,000 customers impacted by outages at this time due to the storm. We do not have a restoration estimate available at this time. Our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service.
— Xcel Energy MN (@XcelEnergyMN) September 17, 2021
Flynn and Morrison halls still have not recovered from the power outage as of around 2 p.m. While lights in the halls and stairways work, Wi-Fi and electricity in the apartments and suites still have not been restored. St. Thomas ITS tweeted that Xcel Energy is working on repairs.
“Several buildings continue to be affected,” the ITS Tech Desk email said. “St. Thomas has contacted Xcel Energy and is waiting on their teams to complete the necessary repairs to restore power and network services to Morrison Hall, Flynn Hall, and St. Thomas-affiliated buildings on Grand, Finn, and Summit Avenues.”
According to a Dining Services employee, both dining halls, Northsider and The View, are fully operational and are reporting no disruptions at this time.
Ongoing construction in Dowling Hall was also unaffected by the power outage, and parking garages can still be accessed.
Owen Larson, Justin Amaker, Mae Macfarlane, Elijah Todd-Walden and Mia Laube contributed to this report.