Skip to content
Campus Alert Archive
IU

Power outage, September 27, 2024

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked
INpower outageadvisoryhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the morning of September 27, 2024, downed power lines along 13th Street just north of the Indiana University Bloomington campus prompted two IU Notify alerts and a street closure. About 303 customers southwest of campus lost power, and 13th Street reopened around 2:20 p.m. EDT after lines from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Avenue were cleared.

Alerts
5
Response
Killed
Injured
Institution
Indiana University Bloomington
Public R1 · IN
All IU cases →
~47,000 studentsIU Notify
Official alert policy
Read when and how IU says it will use IU Notify: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

5 messages in sequence · 5 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimIU Emergency Rave feed (IU Notify SMS text)207 chars
IUB emergency: There are downed power lines on campus near 13th St from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Ave. Avoid the area. For available information and updates on this dangerous situation visit emergency.iu.edu.
Cascade expansion from official emergency.iu.edu Rave feed page 12 (IUB downed power lines, Sep 27, 2024).
IU Notify SMS wording is longer/distinct from contemporaneous @IUpolice TEMPORARY ROAD CLOSURE X post.
INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X+1 min
TEMPORARY ROAD CLOSURE @IUBloomington: 13th Street is closed between N Woodlawn Ave and N Walnut Grove St. for a power line that is down. Please avoid the area.
Full text from official @IUpolice; newline after TEMPORARY ROAD CLOSURE preserved
The downed lines ran along 13th Street from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Avenue, just north of campus.
UPDATESMS+26 min
Verified verbatimIU Emergency Rave feed (IU Notify SMS text)185 chars
IUB final update: 13th St. is closed to traffic from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Ave. Continue to avoid downed power lines. Duke Energy has outage info https://www.duke-energy.com/outages.
Cascade expansion: Rave feed SMS includes “from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Ave” and trailing period, longer than @IUpolice X abbreviation of same update.
UPDATETwitter/X+26 min
Verified verbatim@IUpolice on X (verbatim)150 chars
IUB final update: 13th St. is closed to traffic. Continue to avoid downed power lines. Duke Energy has outage info https://www.duke-energy.com/outages
Full text from official @IUpolice final update (street still closed)
Labeled an update, not an all-clear, because the street remained closed and roughly 303 customers were still without power.
ALL CLEARTwitter/X+2h 39m
Verified verbatim@IUpolice on X (verbatim)58 chars
13th Street is no longer closed. Resume normal activities.
Verbatim all-clear from official @IUpolice reply/update ending the 13th Street power-line closure.
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

IUB emergency: There are downed power lines on campus near 13th St from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Ave. Avoid the area. For available information and updates on this dangerous situation visit emergency.iu.edu.

  • Sourceabsent0/0

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

    See all 25 individual reads

    Open to load the 25 reads.

  • Hazardabsent0/0

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

    See all 25 individual reads

    Open to load the 25 reads.

  • Locationabsent0/0

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

    See all 25 individual reads

    Open to load the 25 reads.

  • Guidanceabsent0/0

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

    See all 25 individual reads

    Open to load the 25 reads.

  • Timeabsent0/0

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

    See all 25 individual reads

    Open to load the 25 reads.

  • Impactabsent0/0

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

    See all 25 individual reads

    Open to load the 25 reads.

Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

On the morning of September 27, 2024, downed power lines along 13th Street north of the Indiana University Bloomington campus prompted IU to issue two IU Notify alerts: one at 9:48 a.m. EDT telling people to avoid the area, and a second around 10:10 a.m. EDT saying the street had closed to traffic. According to the Indiana Daily Student, about 303 customers southwest of campus lost power, with Duke Energy estimating restoration by 5:15 p.m. The street reopened to normal traffic around 2:20 p.m. EDT after lines from Walnut Grove to Woodlawn Avenue were cleared. The case shows how a localized infrastructure failure on a campus edge generates a short cascade of advisory-level notifications focused on routing people away from a hazard rather than sheltering them.
Analysis

Key Findings

Downed power lines on 13th Street prompted two IU Notify alerts on the morning of September 27, 2024
About 303 customers southwest of campus lost power; 13th Street reopened around 2:20 p.m. EDT
The alerts focused on hazard avoidance and routing rather than sheltering
All three @IUpolice alert texts (initial, update, and all-clear) are confirmed verbatim from official X posts, with per-alert sourceUrl links
Outcome
13th Street reopened around 2:20 p.m. EDT; roughly 303 customers lost power. No injuries reported.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Social
  2. Social
  3. Social
  4. Student Paper
  5. Student Paper
  6. Official
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Indiana University Bloomington: Power outage, September 27, 2024." Incident of September 27, 2024. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/indiana-university-bloomington-power-outage-2024-09-27/

Download case JSON

Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
power-outageindianainfrastructuredowned-linesadvisory
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion