{
  "id": "2023-02-01-university-of-virgin-islands-power-outage",
  "slug": "university-of-virgin-islands-power-outage-2023-02-01",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of the Virgin Islands",
    "shortName": "UVI",
    "state": "VI",
    "type": "territory",
    "alertSystemName": "UVI OU-Alerts"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2023-02-01",
    "endDate": "2023-02-04",
    "type": "infrastructure-failure",
    "cleryCategory": "advisory",
    "headline": "A power surge damages campus electrical infrastructure, closing classes for about two days",
    "headlinePublic": "A power surge damages campus electrical infrastructure, closing classes for about two days",
    "summary": "A power surge at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, badly damaged electrical infrastructure on the University of the Virgin Islands' [Orville E. Kean Campus](https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-experiencing-power-issues.html) on St. Thomas, knocking out power across the campus. UVI cancelled classes and closed offices at 11 a.m. on February 2 and had employees work from home while crews worked around the clock. Power was [fully restored at about 2 p.m. on February 4](https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-power-restored.html) after technicians replaced the damaged part.",
    "outcome": "No injuries were reported. UVI ran generators where available, cancelled classes and closed offices for about two days, and restored full campus power on February 4, 2023, after electricians replaced a second damaged component.",
    "resolution": "resolved"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 11:00 AM AST on February 2, 2023",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "University of the Virgin Islands classes have been cancelled and offices closed on UVI's Orville E. Kean Campus due to a power issue. UVI employees are required to work from home. UVI's physical plant and Water and Power Authority personnel are continuing their efforts to resolve the power generation issue. An update will be provided to the UVI Community. Please stay tuned to updates and encourage UVI students and employees so sign up for Bucs Alert.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceDescription": "Official UVI OEK Power Generation Issues alert page",
      "annotations": [
        "Confirmed from live UVI official alert page (wider b74)."
      ],
      "characterCount": 454,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-experiencing-power-issues.html",
      "confidence": "high"
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 2:00 PM AST on February 4, 2023",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from the UVI OU-Alerts 'Power Restored on the OEK Campus' notice",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "The Orville E. Kean Campus is UVI's flagship St. Thomas campus, named for the university's late president emeritus. According to UVI's official [OU-Alerts notices](https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-experiencing-power-issues.html), a power surge at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, badly damaged some of the university's electrical infrastructure and caused a loss of power. UVI cancelled classes and closed offices at 11 a.m. on February 2 and directed employees to work from home, running generators where available while the Physical Plant and outside electricians worked around the clock to identify the damaged components. The [Power Restored notice](https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-power-restored.html) confirms that at about 2 p.m. on February 4 technicians replaced another damaged part and power was fully restored. The incident shows how UVI's small, grid-dependent territorial campus treats a multi-day power failure as an operational emergency communicated through its OU-Alerts channel. The full verbatim text of the alert pages could not be independently retrieved, so the alerts are reconstructed from the notice headlines and reporting and marked unconfirmed.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "A single 2:30 p.m. power surge on February 1, 2023, damaged enough campus electrical infrastructure to take the Orville E. Kean Campus offline for roughly three days",
    "UVI used its OU-Alerts web channel to announce a class cancellation, a work-from-home order, and a final power-restored notice",
    "Restoration required outside electricians and replacement of multiple damaged components, completed about 2 p.m. AST on February 4, 2023",
    "Full verbatim alert text could not be retrieved, so the messages are reconstructed from official notice headlines and flagged unconfirmed"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Classes cancelled and offices closed on UVI's Orville E. Kean Campus - UVI OU-Alerts",
      "url": "https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-experiencing-power-issues.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Power Restored on the OEK Campus - UVI OU-Alerts",
      "url": "https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/oek-power-restored.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Emergency Preparedness & Communication Methods - UVI",
      "url": "https://uvi.edu/administration/about-uvi/emergency-preparedness.aspx",
      "type": "official-archive"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "infrastructure",
    "power-outage",
    "power-surge",
    "territory",
    "virgin-islands",
    "uvi",
    "st-thomas",
    "advisory"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-28",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-26",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}