By Emory Williamson

Victoria Wright and Drew Park spent the last few minutes finishing up their biology test on the floor near the classroom’s entrance due to a brief power outage at the University of Louisville today. 

The outage left the majority of Belknap campus without power for about 20-30 minutes, according to Larry Detherage, associate vice president for facilities at U of L. 

“I couldn’t see anything,” said Wright, a sophomore chemistry major, adding that she was hoping the test would be rescheduled or moved to a different location. 

Instead, she, along with several of her classmates, relocated to the entrance of the class where a small emergency light was located. 

“You just don’t need that kind of distraction during an exam,” she said. “It was an important exam and I’m a little uneasy about how my grade will turn out.” 

Park said that he wanted to reschedule the test, but understood that it might make things more difficult. 

According to Detherage, an issue with a circuit feeder at Warnock and Crittenden Drive caused the outage after LGE crews had been working on it. Although he said the problem is a concern for the University, he believes it to be unavoidable because LG&E controls the power circuits surrounding the campus. 

He said that similar situations, such as the wind storm in late September, will cause the University to utilize separate feeders, such as one located off of Third Street. 

“But with our system, there is no way to avoid that,” said Detherage of short-term power outages. “It’s just going to happen.” 

Both Wright and Park raised concerns about the emergency backup light system, but Detherage said the lights are used solely for exiting the buildings and that they are not set up to allow people to remain in the buildings. 

“You’ll have enough lights in the building, but just to exit,” he said. 

Vice President for Business Affairs Larry Owsley was greatly appreciative of LGE’s quick response in getting the power going again.  

“We were about to send out a VOIP and text message alert about the outage, but it came back on so quickly that we didn’t have a chance to,” Owsley said. “It was a fairly quick response, and we appreciate that.”  

More details concerning the outage will come later.

Dennis O’Neil contributed to this article