Brief Power Outage Damaged University Equipment

The thunder storms that brought cooler temperatures and much needed rain to Northwest Arkansas on Monday, Aug. 8, also brought strong wind gusts that caused a brief power outage on campus.

The outage occurred when overhead electrical wires feeding power to the Kappa Sigma fraternity were apparently blown loose at about 3:20 p.m. The wires came in contact with the university’s dedicated main electrical service, which were on the same utility pole, causing an instantaneous "short" and disrupting power to a large area of the campus.

"SWEPCO's systems are designed to try and restore power when it is disrupted," said Scott Turley, director of utility operations for the campus. "That is why we often see the lights blink on and off, once or twice during a severe weather event. The electrical distribution system will try to clear the problem and restore power; or it will determine it cannot safely operate and will keep the power off to protect the larger service area. In our case the system was able to clear the fault and restore normal power back to campus on the second try, less than a minute after the outage."

That brief period, however, was enough to cause an estimated $25,000 damage to computer equipment in several  buildings that are part of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The Kappa Sigma fraternity was without power for about three hours while repairs were made to the lines affected by the winds.