Update: Nov. 7 2:22 p.m. power has been restored on campus, lead was changed for clarity.

Update: Nov. 7 10:49 p.m. Community Relations Director Ann Garten gives information on power outage.

Update: Nov. 8 11:28 a.m. “Elyse Geraghty” was spelled incorrectly and has been changed to “Elise Geraghty.”

Classes were cancelled, staff was told to have classes outside if possible and students were evacuated after several buildings experienced power outages at approximately 11 a.m. today.

Garten said, in an email, that Southern California Edison said it was a transformer at Marine and Inglewood avenues that caused the power outage.

The power outage caused some problems for students on campus.

“(It) affects me because this is the only time I can do homework in the MBA Building,” Walter Gonzalez, 27, criminal justice major, said. “I put the effort to come to school, but everything is closed. I hope everything is resolved soon.”

English Professor Briita Halonen was in the middle of teaching English B in the Humanities Building when the power went out and shortly after the internet went down.

“It certainly impacted (class),” she said. “But it could’ve been worse.”

Power has been fixed and staff were asked to return to their offices at 2:22 p.m., according to a Nixle alert sent out by El Camino police.

Problems began when:

• At approximately 11 a.m., Geoff Scott, intern at “The Union,” said that he was in class in the P.E. South Building when the lights went out and then the room began to fill with smoke. Dean of Athletics and Health Sciences Rory Natividad said it was a “power outage.”
• Community Relations Director Ann Garten tweeted that “there is no gas leak. We are experiencing a campus wide power outage.” (The gas leak comment was made by a worker passing Scott.)
• Dean of Humanities Tom Lew and Associate Dean of Humanities Elise Geraghty were going around classrooms on the first floor of the Humanities Building, telling professors to cancel class around 11:45 a.m.

For more information on things happening around campus, sign up for Nixle alerts by texting “ECCPD” to 888-777.