A typical Maine Nor'easter took an unexpected turn last night as a storm-related power outage left much of the Bowdoin campus in the dark. Students seemed to take the inconvenience in stride, however, dusting off flashlights and taking to the Quad for snowball fights.
While Senior Vice-President for Finance and Administration S. Catherine Longley declared a weather emergency at 2:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, the storm had had little effect on student activity beyond the hassle of walking to class or practice in several inches of slush. By late evening, however, the weight of the slushy accumulation proved too much for area power lines and transformers.
According to Mike Veilleux, Major Maintenance Project Manager for Facilities Management, the local outage was triggered by a downed power line on Federal Street. Central Maine Power's web site reported widespread outages across Maine due to the storm.
Students first noticed problems with power shortly after 8:00 p.m. The outages were initially spotty, as students in first-year dorms reported that, in some rooms, lights in bedrooms worked while those in common rooms did not.
Some students reported seeing flashes akin to lightning just before the outage. Meaghan Kennedy '06, a Coles Tower resident, saw "blue flashes" outside before her room went dark. Eddie Briganti '05 reported seeing the flashes from the fifteenth floor of the Tower at about the same time.
By 10:00 p.m., however, nearly the whole campus was dark. Only a few buildings with generators, such as Moulton Union and Thorne Hall, had power. The social houses also retained power throughout the outage, with light from Baxter House's porch and Ladd House's windows puncturing an otherwise eerily dark landscape.
Campus officials were quick to respond. Security's Communication Center was initially swamped with calls from concerned and curious students, and used the calls to compile a list of where the power was out, according to Assistant Director of Security Mike Brown. A number of calls were placed for the student escort van service, which had been suspended due to weather conditions.
Brown also reported that the Security office had brought in extra officers to respond to alarms and field questions. Officials had to manually activate a number of the generators scattered around the campus.
Security also responded to an odor of smoke in the Moulton Union kitchen. Brunswick firefighters, already busy with reports of wires down and transformer fires, investigated and determined there was no fire. Officials cited a shorted-out fan as the source of the odor.
Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley, who was monitoring the situation at the Communications Center, reported at 10:15 p.m. that the dining halls were being opened so students could pass the time in a lit area.
The outage also affected last night's scheduled events, including the celebration and concert marking the tenth anniversary of the opening of Smith Union.
The well-known steel drum band JahPan was scheduled to play an 8:30 p.m. show in the Union. After waiting for nearly an hour for power to return, the band took to the stage and played an acoustic set, pleasing those students who had stayed.
"This is so weird," said Kerry Elson '05, who didn't allow the unique circumstances to keep her off the dance floor.
Director of Student Activities Burgie Howard wouldn't let the unexpected problems spoil the fun. "This is not the program we had hoped for, but people are having a good time and coming together, and that's why this building was built," he said.
The Japanese puppet troupe Bunrakumass' show in Kresge Auditorium was drowned out by the noise of nearby generators, according to Tim Katlic '08, and was forced to end early.
Katlic, along with Winthrop Hall roommates Max Palmer and John Hoffman, ended up passing the hours of darkness with their battery-powered laptops. Indeed, those fortunate enough to have a changed battery quickly put their laptops to use.
Students in Appleton Hall rushed to finish papers due today before their batteries wore out, while another group gathered around a laptop in the fourth-floor hallway of Hyde Hall to watch a movie.
The Orient was not immune from the effects of the blackout, and was forced to use laptops to edit stories until its desktop computers, with the necessary publishing software, were back online.
Other students resorted to more low-tech means to pass the time. Chamberlain Hall residents took the opportunity to get to know their floormates better, playing chess, chatting, and reading in the halls, which remained lit throughout.
Nearly 30 first-year students organized a snowball fight on the Quad, only to give up for a visit to Thorne for Super Snack, courtesy of the dining hall's generator.
Sophomores Chris Hagehorn and Tim Kantor had to cancel their daily miniature basketball game and resorted to the candy dispensers at the base of the Tower for diversion.
Students in Winthrop Hall continued to shower under emergency floodlight, determined to maintain a semblance of routine on what was decidedly not an average Thursday night.
Still others kept the books out on the desk, even in the dark. Alex Paul '06 found himself studying organic chemistry by flashlight.
Maine is not a stranger to this type of storm. Brown recalled the ice storm of 1998, which left the College powerless for four days. That, he said, was an important test of Bowdoin's emergency operating procedures, especially in light of the generators' limited operating capacity.
This time, however, the generators' eight-hour operating time was not a concern. Brown reported that half the campus was back online at 11:30 p.m., and by 12:45 a.m. this morning only part of Brunswick Apartments was still without power.
-Brian Dunn, Ted Reinert, Steve Kolowich, Mónica Guzmán, James Baumberger, and Bobby Guerette contributed to this report.