Michigan State University officials say restoring steam, hot water and temperature controls across campus could take up to a week following Saturday’s widespread power outage.
WKAR News reporter Andrew Roth is at Monday’s news conference.
Updates:
- 115 buildings are affected by the steam disruption, including 24 that also need hot water restored.
- Restoration is happening in seven phases, generally moving from south of the Red Cedar River to areas north of it.
- Residence halls are a priority, and MSU is working on plans to provide students access to hot showers.
- Officials say there were about 19 service calls involving people stuck in elevators during the first hour of the outage. MSU police worked with the East Lansing Fire Department, and no injuries were reported.
- Officials say the outage was caused by an equipment failure and is not being investigated as a cyberattack. The cause of the equipment failure is still under investigation.
- Campus water remains safe to drink and use, and dining halls continue to operate.
- At the news conference, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said university officials are not aware of another campus-wide outage in recent decades that affected nearly every part of campus.
In a news release sent just before 4 p.m. Monday, Guskiewicz acknowledged the impact on students living on campus.
“To our students living on campus, these inconveniences impact you the most. I am sorry for that,” Guskiewicz said.
MSU says one restoration zone was completed Sunday night and crews are working on the next phase Monday.
Some classes will remain remote during portions of the week. Individual colleges will communicate directly with students about when classes return in person.
Administrative work on campus is expected to fully resume Tuesday, though supervisors may make exceptions depending on building conditions.
Electricity was fully restored late Saturday night.
MSU says it will provide daily updates as steam, hot water and other services return to campus buildings.
