A power outage struck Elon Monday afternoon, leaving much of campus in the dark. A flurry of email updates and tweets from the university attempted to assuage student concerns before the power kicked back on less than an hour later.
Power first went out shortly after 11:20 a.m., affecting areas of campus north of the train tracks. Backup generators kicked in to keep emergency lights and some Wi-Fi service on.
According to a spokesperson for Duke Energy, the source of the power outage was off of Walker Road. She later said that the cause was "weather-related."
Duke Energy's outage map showed that 765 customers had been affected and initially listed an estimated restoration time of 2:45 p.m.
Shortly after noon, an email from vice president for student life Jon Dooley said that course registration would not continue as planned today.
A second email from Dooley arrived only a few minutes later, announcing that classes would be cancelled through 1:25 p.m. Less than 20 minutes later, Dooley followed up with an email that said classes would resume as scheduled for the remainder of the afternoon.
An update later in the afternoon included new registration times that compensate for the issues caused by the outage.
Traffic lights at the corner of North Williamson Avenue and East Haggard Avenue were not working, and police officers stood at the intersection directing traffic.
A number of businesses in downtown Elon were left without power, and their locked doors bore signs indicating that they would be closed for the afternoon. Acorn Coffee Shop, which is operated by Elon Dining, had power and Wi-Fi throughout the afternoon, even as the outage affected neighboring businesses.