Power restored to Stanford buildings affected by outage

A failed power cable located between Stern Hall and the Bookstore is being blamed for a power outage in a number of east campus facilities – including several student residences – beginning at about 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Land, Buildings and Real Estate, which was continuing to conduct assessments, expressed its gratitude for the patience of those affected by the outage.

Affected buildings on the main Stanford campus included Crothers Memorial, Stern Hall, Cowell Cluster, the Bookstore, Vaden Health Center, Wilbur Field Garage, Barnum Center and Taper Student Center. No classes were affected by the outage.

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, power had been restored to all affected building, except the Bookstore and Barnum Center. Those two buildings were back online by about 5:30 p.m.

During the outage, many of the buildings continued to operate on generators. Vaden Health Center, for instance, continued to operate as usual with generators. Fire alarm systems and keycard access throughout many affected buildings continued to operate on battery power. In a few cases residences were rekeyed to allow students to use their room key for entry.

Students who were affected were given the opportunity to go to the Arrillaga Family Dining Commons or Lakeside Dining. Staff at affected residences distributed flashlights to ensure that students did not resort to candles for light. Arrillaga Family Dining Commons extended its late-night hours to accommodate students.

By 8 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, technicians had identified the fault believed to be the cause of the outage. Electricians began to isolate the fault and begin the lengthy process of energizing the line.

In order to restore power, power was briefly cut off at 3:30 p.m. to Branner Hall, Encina Hall and Commons, Terman Engineering, The Nitery, Toyon Hall, Wilbur Hall and several construction trailers.