By Terrance Olivo (Whetstone Staff Writer)

A blinding flash and a loud noise resulted in a power outage Sept. 6 after lightning struck a transformer near Roe Hall.

“It was like an old Frankenstein movie,” said freshman Sullivan Lynch, a resident of Williams Hall who was near the lightning strike when it happened. “The whole area between [Roe] and Williams lit up.”

He said the experience was “so dope.”

The strike caused power loss on the north side of the campus. Major buildings affected include Roe, Gooding, and Williams halls, and about half of College Center, including Security and the Wesley bookstore.

“All the girls on my floor were pretty much freaking out.” said freshman Julianna Tedder, who lives in Gooding. She said she reacted differently.

“I started laughing,” she said. “I thought it was awesome.”

The panic from power loss also drew the attention of Wesley security.

Its phone lines and computers can be affected by a loss of power.

“We do get calls asking why the power is out and when it will be back on.” said Walt Beaupre, head of Wesley security.

Beaupre confirmed that many in College Center lost Internet access.

The southern side of campus did not report any loss of power after the lightning strike.

“I kinda slept through it,” said junior Patrick Wittle, resident of Zimmerman hall.

Power was out for most of the night on Saturday, and restored on Sunday morning.

“I was up till 3 and things weren’t back to normal,” Sullivan said.

“[It] didn’t come back until 9 o’clock in the morning,” Tedder said.