Much of Western Pennsylvania was left in the dark after a thunderstorm left hundreds of thousands of people, including Robert Morris University, without power.

The storm, which came in from the west, brought heavy rain and wind gusts up to 80 MPH over the area, hitting Moon Township at about 4:45 on the evening of Tuesday, Apr. 29.

Shortly after, power started to flicker throughout the area, and RMU ended up losing power at 4:59 PM.

That is, except for Salem Hall.

“We are running on a second generator,” said Cade Stukus, a Junior resident at Salem. “We’ve used [our room] as kind of like a refuge for our friends who don’t have power so they can have some light so cook, charge stuff or just hang out.”

Backup-generator-powered floodlights were the only source of light throughout the rest of campus, as Tuesday-evening classes were cancelled and university services, such as the PNC Cafe and ROMO’s Cafe, were shut down.

The cafes closing, along with the outage of power in stores and restaurants alike, left many RMU students without access to food for the night.

“I don’t have a car so I hadn’t eaten until this afternoon,” said Colin Byrne, a freshman living in Monroe Hall. “I’d gone 12 to 16 hours without food”.

In this time of crisis, RMU has made attempts to alleviate the pressures placed on students by the outage.

In an email sent at 2:07 PM on Apr. 30, the university announced that both the PNC Cafe and Yorktown Cafe are open normal hours (the PNC Cafe will serve picnic food such as hotdogs, burgers and cold sandwiches in a buffet-style manner), the RMU Island Sports Complex Bistro will serve limited hot food options and the shuttle service will extend to the Island Sports Complex.

ROMO’s Cafe will serve dry goods and convenience items. Generators and power strips will be available to students at the Gazebo for charging. The Hale Center will also be open for charging with IT Staff available. Both the Counseling Center and Health Center will be open, but with all appointments being virtual. The Student Mail Room was also open.

However, in the same email, RMU announced that the Student Recreation Center will not be open. This, along with the lack of power to the UPMC Event Center, places one of RMU’s yearly traditions in danger: Greek Week.

Greek Week is a yearly competition between RMU’s Greek Life organizations. Consisting of sporting events, trivia, relay races, and ultimately Airband, Greek Week is a staple of the closing of the spring semester on campus.

This year, Greek Week was supposed to run from Apr. 27 to May 9. Notably, the storm hit campus in the middle of the Relay Race event.

Basketball was supposed to be played Tuesday night at 7 PM at the Recreation Center, but it has been postponed.

Looking to the future, Airband is in jeopardy.

Airband is the most anticipated event of Greek Week, as it is an opportunity for every different organization to dance, lip sync, and have fun on stage at the UPMC Event Center in front of thousands.

But without power, Airband might become a victim of the outage.

“I’m not sure if it is going to happen now and there might be some problems if it does”, said Lexie Yunk, a freshman member of Delta Zeta sorority, who will be performing at Airband.

“But I really hope it happens, it will suck for everyone who has put so much time and effort into this.”

It is up to the Interfraternity Council, Pan-Hellenic Conference, and Student Life on whether or not to alter the Greek Week schedule further.

RMU was one of an estimated 240,000 customers of Duquesne Light who are without power. As of 4:07 PM on Apr. 30, the company has not provided an estimated restoration time for power at RMU.

“We understand how difficult and frustrating it is to be without power, especially for an extended period of time,” Duquesne Light announced on X Wednesday evening.

“This is an ‘all hands on deck’ effort for the company, and we will continue to work around the clock until everyone is restored.”

But the extended outage hasn’t dampened everyone’s spirits.

Students have been taking advantage of the nice weather and sunlight across campus today.

“Sand Volleyball was popping earlier,” Stukus added. “Even without power, we’re still having fun.”

Following its postponement, Greek Week Basketball will be played on Wednesday at 4 PM at the outdoor courts instead of the indoor courts at the Recreation Center, showing promise for future Greek Week Events.

“It’s a beautiful day here on campus,” RMU stated in an email.

“It’s been great to see so many of you outside, making the best of the situation and enjoying the sunshine together.”