FGCU briefly experienced the remnants of a power outage that happened all over Lee and Collier counties the past two days. Florida Power & Light is continuing to investigate this outage.
“FGCU didn’t lose power completely, but we did have a few quick flickers or brief interruptions yesterday and today during the morning,” University Spokesperson Pamela McCabe said. “This is likely tied to the unusually cold weather, which can cause a spike in electricity use.”
Students and staff were prepared for the cold weekend by a campus-wide email sent by FGCU Emergency Services. Additionally, it warned that the extreme conditions could impact campus and cause an increase in incidents.
“FGCU Emergency Management is monitoring a significant Arctic cold blast expected to impact Southwest Florida this weekend, with the harshest impacts to be felt Saturday evening into Monday morning,” the alert said. “While there are no changes in campus operations, we want to make sure our students and employees are planning ahead for the complex range of hazards the Arctic front could cause, including freeze conditions, icy surfaces and an increased risk of fire or infrastructure impacts.”
Story continues below advertisement
The power flickered around campus and in housing units from 7 a.m. to approximately 10 a.m. on Monday. The university faced the same issue the next day around the same time. As of now, the Florida Power & Light map shows that there are 78 outages combined throughout both counties but all near FGCU seem to be resolved.
“At this point, it’s mostly just being aware that brief interruptions could happen,” McCabe said.
Students are encouraged to report any other outages that might happen on campus at this time to Physical Plant at (239) 590-1370. For those who live on campus and experience outages, they should call Housing Services to report it instead.