Posted February 6, 2014

Villanova University succumbed to the ice storm Wednesday, Feb. 5 that left the university without power or heat to the entire Main Line campus, along with more than half a million PECO residents in the Philadelphia region.

A statement on Villanova’s website said the university will remain closed through Friday, Feb. 7, including the law school.

“We encourage all on campus resident students, who can travel safely, to return home,” the statement read.

[hotblock]

Nearby Rosemont College also was affected by the same power outage. A statement on Rosemont’s website said all classes in the undergraduate and graduate schools would be canceled and the college’s office would remain closed through Friday.

Rosemont encouraged students who could travel home to do so. “We also encourage students who cannot travel home to consider going home with classmates who do live within reasonable traveling distance,” the college’s statement read.

Cardinal and Connelly halls remained open, with the latter offering food to students who remain on campus.

At Villanova, for those students remaining on campus, emergency generators were powering two facilities Wednesday night, Dougherty and Sullivan halls. Dougherty provided hot meals, water, snacks and other food, and students were also able to recharge their phones and laptop computers at the hall.

“Villanova is taking additional steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our students,” the statement read. “All campus buildings are equipped with emergency generators that provide emergency lighting and operate building fire alarm systems. Additional public safety officers will be on duty and present in on-campus residence halls. Resident assistants will be carrying two-way radios to enable direct communication between campus residence halls and the Public Safety Department.”

Emergency generators came online by Thursday morning for two more campus buildings, Donahue and Good Counsel halls, according to the statement.

The university continued to seek additional emergency generators, as well as to provide additional options for students who are unable to leave campus as long as the outage lasts.