ETSU experienced an electrical failure Tuesday, which resulted in the cancellation of evening classes on campus.
Ten buildings were without power and some telephone lines were down.
According to Bill Rasnick, director of the ETSU Physical Plant, there was a 30-year-old cable in the ground that blew.
Rasnick said that there was really no way of knowing how this happened.
The Johnson City Power Board sent crews to locate the cable. They used a “thumper” to detect resistance in the electrical cables in the ground. Crews worked on repairing the cable for about 16 hours.
“We replaced the bad section of the cable,” Rasnick said. “All the underground cables need to be fixed. We recently received $1 million to fix what we can.”
Rasnick said that this has happened before.
“We haven’t had a lot since I’ve been here, but this is the first one that’s been publicized,” he said. “I believe the last one was three years ago at Wilson-Wallis.”
Dr. Steven Bader, senior associate vice president and dean of students, said the university had not been adequately funded in to preven these types of things from occuring.
“When you don’t have capital maintenance from your legislature, things like this are going to happen,” he said.
Bader also said that if there had been a power outage in the residence halls the students would have been moved to alternative housing, possibly in the carpeted rooms of the Center for Physical Activity. The residence halls that could have potentially lost power overnight were McCord, Cooper and Carter. Fortunately, the situation was under control before that happened.
“I really sympathize with students who are in this situation because it shouldn’t be happening,” Bader said.
During the power outage the food services on campus stayed open until 5 p.m.
“We need to keep this place open and running,” Bader said. “Everyone is doing the best they can.”
Rasnick said if a power outage occurs again students need to be prepared and have a flashlight on hand. They also need to listen to WETS-FM 89.5 for information on the situation.

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