Stanford canceled Wednesday summer classes, day camps and conferences amid an ongoing power outage that started early Tuesday afternoon following the loss of a PG&E transmission line. Until the campus-wide outage subsides, students residing on campus for the summer in buildings without generator power may have to hold off on using anything that needs electricity, the University announced Tuesday night.
The latest Alert SU, sent to the school community at 9:25 p.m., shared that “there is no change to the status of the power outage on campus,” which was caused by damage from the Edgewood fire near Emerald Hills “PG&E has not provided an estimated time of power restoration,” the alert added.
In addition to the summer session cancellations, Madera Grove, CCSC and Stock Farm Road childcare facilities will also be closed Wednesday.
This update also encouraged employees who work on the main Stanford campus to “work from home tomorrow if feasible.”
Operations at Stanford Redwood City, SLAC and the Stanford Research Park are not affected.
Students have expressed frustration with the outages. A Stanford Medicine student shared on Twitter that “labs are organizing to store valuable samples/reagents in buildings with backup generators,” while students in COVID-19 isolation have highlighted their unique predicament of waiting alone for University support.
For students on campus, some relief is on its way — Arrillaga Family Dining Commons is open as a respite space for students until 3 a.m. tonight. According to the University “Cold beverages, snacks and power outlets for charging electronics will be available.” The EVGR Pavilion will also be open as a respite space until 1 a.m.
In an attempt to relieve campus of some darkness, “portable light stations are being moved into several student residential areas.” For transportation, parking garages are closed due to the unsafe, dark conditions, but the Marguerite is expecting to be running tomorrow.
University Spokesperson E.J. Miranda told The Daily in an earlier email that “smoke from the nearby fire may be visible from campus, but it is not on Stanford property and there is no threat to campus at this time.”
Students requiring assistance after-hours should call the after-hours help line at 650-725-1602 and can view university updates here.
This is one of two breaking stories on the outage and will be updated.