Power disruption temporarily shuts down university

A power outage on the city's north side left about 1,600 Thunder Bay Hydro customers without power Wednesday morning, including Lakehead University.

The outage took place just after 7 a.m. The university was forced to remain closed for the majority of the morning as hydro workers dealt with the issue. 

A reporter with Thunder Bay Television spoke with several students and staff during the outage.  While most of them were taking the situation in stride, they admit it's frustrating to be denied access to school resources.

Thunder Bay Hydro vice-president of customer service Tim Wilson said the problem stemmed from a Hydro pole on the south side of Oliver Road.

Wilson added that it took about three minutes for power to be restored to the Health Sciences Centre. 

The other hydro customers, including LU, were back online just before 11 a.m. 

Meanwhile, a second power outage took place in the South Neebing area around the lunch hour. About 1,200 customers were affected for about an hour.