POWER OUTAGE CLOSES SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY

Southeast Missouri State University canceled classes and closed offices Friday after a power outage on campus left the school in the dark for much of the day.

School officials said the outage underscores the need to upgrade Southeast's aging power plant and electrical distribution system. The switchyard dates to the 1950s.

Southeast wants to make $5.6 million worth of improvements over the next two years. The university had submitted a request for state funding prior to the power outage.

The improvements include repairing the power plant's two steam turbines so the school can generate more of its own electricity.

Had the turbines been operable, Southeast could have generated enough electricity to power the whole campus, officials said.

The outage occurred about 12:40 a.m. after an aging insulator exploded, shorting out Union Electric's 34,500-volt power line that feeds the university's electrical switchyard next to the power plant.

The outage left university buildings with only emergency lighting.

Three students were trapped in an elevator in Towers East for about two hours before they could be extricated. The students weren't injured.

An emergency generator provided needed power to science labs. A portable generator was set up to provide power and light to the Towers dining hall so students could be served breakfast and lunch.

School officials said it took several hours to find the cause of the outage. Union Electric crews were called in at 3 a.m. and began installing a temporary power line to the switchyard.

"Everything is down," Southeast's executive vice president, Dr. Ken Dobbins, said Friday morning as he watched Union Electric and school crews work to restore power to the campus.

Power was restored in stages, beginning around 10 a.m. Power throughout the campus had been completely Friday afternoon.

But with classes canceled and offices shut down, parking lots remained empty and the campus appeared deserted.

Dobbins said the university will bring in a contractor to make permanent repairs.

Southeast President Dr. Kala Stroup said the campus has experienced brownouts before, but "this is the first time that an electrical problem has closed us down."

Stroup said, "Our system was designed for a smaller campus, and although our power plant management has done a good job keeping it going, the system is too old to last much longer."

A diesel generator in the power plant provided emergency power to the plant and several surrounding buildings during the outage.

The university was also able to keep its boilers operating to generate steam used in heating the campus. But the power outage kept fans from circulating the heat in the buildings.

"We were really fortunate, I think, because the temperature was mild last night," Southeast's Al Stoverink said. Stoverink directs the school's physical plant operations, including the power plant.

Stoverink had worked overnight in his office across from the power plant. He was in his office when the power went out.

"There was a loud noise. It was kind of hard to tell where it came from," he said.

Freshman Joshua Griffin, 19, was awake in his dorm room on the 12th floor of Towers South when the lights went out.

"I was at my computer and I heard a real loud pop," he said. "It was kind of like a gun went off."

There were no lights in the rooms. But battery-pack, emergency lighting came on in the hallways and stairwells.

Many students were sleeping when the power went out. Those that were awake in Towers seemed to take it in stride.

Griffin said it didn't bother students to have classes canceled. The power outage just gave him more time to study for his biology and chemistry tests.