Live wires were reportedly down in the roadways on Triphammer Road and Jessup Road on Wednesday, prompting a Cornell ALERT on Thursday afternoon cautioning against traveling in the area.
Cornell first announced that network and power lines were down on Wednesday evening. The University noted Wi-Fi and power outages at numerous buildings along Cornell’s North Campus, including 150-330 Triphammer Rd., the Africana Center, the Child Center, Frogbarn and Wait Avenue.
“Wires came down from the storm that passed through,” said Cornell Police Chief David Honan in a statement shared with The Sun. “NYSEG has not indicated a restore time at this point.”
The University alert stated it had contacted the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation on Wednesday evening due to power lines and trees in the road.
Kathryn Boor, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, documented Thursday’s “wild weather” on Twitter.
Sunny just 10 minutes ago. Wild weather on our Ag Quad. pic.twitter.com/uHj18GsITD
— Kathryn Boor (@CornellGradDean) August 8, 2019
As of Thursday at 3 p.m., the NYSEG website reported over 3,000 customers without power in Tompkins County. A spokesperson for NYSEG has not yet responded to a request for comment.
A severe thunderstorm forecast felled several trees on Cornell’s campus and in the surrounding Ithaca neighborhoods.
Marc Alessi ’18, former president of the Cornell Meteorological Society, also shared a video on twitter of a time lapse of the storm, taken from Bradfield Hall.
Another storm, another timelapse! Here’s the squall moving through from the top of Bradfield Hall at Cornell. #twithaca @CornellCALS pic.twitter.com/PlBGFpV9oM
— Marc Alessi (@Marc_Alessi) August 8, 2019
“It had been an impeccably blue-sky day until about twenty minutes before the storm, at which point the clouds turned a very ominous color,” said Antonio Sanín ’19, who was on campus during the afternoon storm.
“Without any warning of raindrops here or there, it started pouring all of the sudden – and dozens of people immediately rushed into Duffield. It was so windy that you could see large volumes of precipitation blowing furiously onto the trees,” Sanín said.
The full Cornell ALERT sent at 3:10 p.m. read, “Please avoid Triphammer Road, Dearborn Place, and Jessup Road areas on Cornell University Campus due to live wires and trees in the roadway. NYSEG has been contacted.”
This story will be updated.