A blown transformer caused a North campus power outage on Tuesday.

 “I was eating in the Williams Dining Hall this morning and I happened to look out the window when the transformer behind the ticket center blew,” said Jeffery Valentine, junior computer engineering major, who saw the whole thing happen. “I saw sparks, heard a noise, and then the lights in the cafeteria went off, then came back on.”

Valentine posted what he saw on Twitter, as did other students to keep each other informed. An Aggie a.m. and the text message was sent out at 10:48 a.m.

“We had a failure in our main transformer, which is a product of Duke Energy. The transformer fuels the power on the North side of campus,” said Kerry Baldwin, director of physical plants. “Once we located the problem, Duke Energy came to troubleshoot the transformer. They realized that the transformer did not need to be replaced; it was a problem that could be fixed on site.

The power went out at about 8:45 a.m. and didn’t come back on until noon. All classes on the North side of campus were cancelled until 1 p.m.

Academic buildings on the North side of campus include Barnes Hall, Campbell Hall, Carver Hall, Corbett Gym, Craig Hall, Crosby Hall, the General Classroom Building, Marteena Hall, Merrick Hall, Paul Robeson Theatre, Price Hall, the Science Building and Smith Hall.

The residence halls affected were Haley Hall, The Village, and Cooper Hall.

Both the chancellor and provost were away from campus during the day.

“We needed to make a decision without them,” said Wanda Lester, interim associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

“We want to get the information out to the students, so they know what to expect. We don’t like to cancel classes; it really puts a burden on the students. A massive power outage could put people at risk, so we want to make sure everyone is out of the buildings,” she said. “We consulted with the chancellor and provost via text messages.”

Everyone who was in the academic buildings when the power went out, including the professors and deans, were evacuated and told they were not allowed back in until the problem was rectified.

“Safety is the main priority,” said Tony Welborne, general manager for WNAA, when asked how he felt about the evacuation.

Aja Tatum, senior interdisciplinary major from Greensboro, felt differently. “I wish we could have finished what we were doing before we had to evacuate. It has not been this serious in past years.”

Classroom buildings were the priority, Baldwin said. “The residence halls have generators, so their hallways and stairwells have lights. The classroom buildings don’t have generators and we didn’t want students sitting in the dark. Classes wouldn’t have been able to go on regardless.”

Safety is another reason for the evacuations.

“It’s a safety risk because there is no communication from one building to the next when there is no power,” said W.C. Jennings, maintenance technician and graduate student.

Although classes resumed at 1 p.m., classes 6 p.m. and later were cancelled.

“Around 6 p.m. we’ll have to shut down the power again so that we can put the repaired transformer back in,” Baldwin said.

“There are three transformers in all. Duke Energy was able to take out the transformer that blew and run the power on the North side of campus using just two of the transformers. Because we’re not running the air conditioner much due to the colder weather we are able to run on two transformers.

• Sylvia Obell