Lights Back On After Manhole Incident Knocks Out Power to Harvard’s River Houses

Students were left without power for several hours on Thursday morning after a power outage — caused by an “underground electrical incident” that injured a contractor — hit several University buildings near the river.

Eight of Harvard’s 12 upperclassman Houses lost power, along with student overflow housing on DeWolfe Street, and the main campus of the Harvard Kennedy School.

The Houses relied on emergency generators immediately after the outage, and DeWolfe apartments were the only University buildings left without power for the extent of the outage.

Of the nine Houses along the Charles River, only Adams House — the only one with no dorms south of Mt. Auburn Street — was unaffected by the power loss. Freshman housing near the Yard was also unaffected.

Power was fully restored to University buildings by noon.

The outage occurred around 7:30 a.m. due to a work-related incident inside an underground manhole near 95 Dunster Street, the address of Kirkland House, according to city spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick.

A contractor was in the manhole at the time of the event and was subsequently taken to the hospital with minor injuries, according to University spokesperson Amy Kamosa.

Kamosa wrote that the employee — who was not named — has since been discharged from the hospital, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The event disrupted a nearby substation maintained by Eversource, the energy provider for much of Harvard Square, leading to a reported outage for customers.

Eversource responded to the outage in a statement to The Crimson, stating that the incident did not involve Eversource infrastructure or equipment.

“Safety is always our top priority for the public, our employees and the communities we serve, and our crews have remained on scene today to assist first responders, public safety officials and Harvard with their response,” Eversource spokesperson Olessa Stepanova wrote.

Local businesses and residential property were not affected by the outage, including direct neighbors of affected University buildings. Even the Charles Hotel, the building directly next to the power-less HKS, did not lose electricity.

A similar power outage occurred this time last year, when more than 1,700 households were left without power in the Cambridgeport neighborhood after a transformer exploded.

And with recent complaints from students about the summer heat, the loss of air conditioning caused by the power outage was not ideal.

“It’s not a great day to be without power!” Eliot House Faculty Dean Bonnie Talbert wrote in an email to The Crimson.

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.