By Blace Carpenter and Alexa Cheaney
On Thursday, April 18, parts of Grand Rapids Community College’s main campus lost power due to a broken water main, which flooded a building owned by AT&T on the Southeast corner of Division Avenue and Fountain Street as a result of nearby construction.
Students and faculty were alerted by GRCC Police about the incident at 12:05 p.m. through intercoms in offices and classrooms that repeated four times, “Attention Attention, we are aware of a widespread power outage on campus. Please continue your activities as able. We are working to obtain more information regarding the cause and the estimated restoration time…”
Around 40 minutes later, students and professors were told via text that all classes were canceled for the remainder of the day.
Associate Director of Facilities Nicholas Elgersma said the power outage was caused by a broken water main that happened as a result of the construction on Division and Fountain.
“To the best of our knowledge, there’s been work going on Division and Fountain, as a lot of the college knows,” stated Elgersma. “And in that work one of the subcontractors actually hit the water main, which ended up flooding the basement of an abandoned building which has an electoral substation and it blew a couple of the main lines.”
Elegrsma explained that four mains were blown out, affecting College Park Plaza, Ramp B, RJF, Cook Hall, Ramp A and the Student Center. The Civic Theatre located off Division Ave lost power as well.
New Student Orientation Coordinator Jose Mora was helping students in the Promise Zone program set up their future classes when the college lost power.
“It didn’t affect us too much, fortunately,” Mora said. “Our orientation today specifically was with our Promise Zone students. We have our promise zone team that is going to follow up with them to make sure any items that they didn’t finish get taken care of…”
Hannah Kragt, the new Student College Navigator, noted the power outage was annoying and a bump in the road for student orientation.
“The outage was a hard thing for our Union High School students,” Kragt said. “This is their first experience at GRCC so all of this is unconventional. We are working hard to make sure students still have their course recommendations and make sure they’re still having a positive time by providing pizza.”
Eldin Sinaovic, 19, of Grand Rapids, was confused as he arrived on campus.
“I tried getting into campus at Ramp B and there was a huge line of cars at the entrance,” Sinaovic said. “After a few minutes, I was finally able to get in but I was still confused about what happened.”
Alem Maric, 18, of Kentwood, was more concerned with what was happening inside the building when he arrived.
“I was honestly so confused on what was going on once I arrived on campus,” Maric said. “The first thing I heard was a beeping noise and I thought something was happening within the school. I was happy to hear that it was a power outage instead of a threat within the school.”
Power is expected to return to College park plaza and Ramp B at 4:30 p.m., and RJF, Cook and the Student Center at 6:30p.m.
Collegiate editor Pierson VanGorp contributed to this story.
