Campus Alert Archive
UC San Diego

Water Intrusion Knocks Out Four UC San Diego Colleges During Finals Week

CApower outageadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

In the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, March 22, 2023, a high-voltage connector at UC San Diego suffered water intrusion from heavy rain, triggering a campus-wide outage that left thousands of students at Warren College, Eleanor Roosevelt College, Sixth College, and Seventh College without power during winter-quarter finals week. Power was restored by approximately 5:00 AM PDT.

Alerts
2
Response
min
Killed
0
Injured
1
Institution
University of California, San Diego
Public R1 · CA
~42,875 studentsEverbridgeTriton Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionThe Triton (UCSD student news) — paraphrasing campus alert305 chars
Triton Alert: A campus power outage is in progress affecting Warren, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sixth and Seventh Colleges and surrounding areas. UC San Diego Facilities Management is responding. Stay indoors and use flashlights, not candles. Avoid elevators. More information will follow as it becomes available.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The 'use flashlights, not candles' line is the standard UCSD residential-life boilerplate that appears in nearly every overnight outage alert.
Reconstructed from The Triton coverage; UCSD does not retain a public archive of Triton Alert messages.
ALL CLEARSMS+2h 45m
Approximate reconstructionThe Triton — restoration timing and cause attribution349 chars
Triton Alert: Power has been restored to all affected residential areas. Facilities Management determined the cause was water intrusion from recent heavy rain into a high-voltage connector. Students with finals scheduled this morning should check Canvas and email for instructor guidance — some exams may be rescheduled. Thank you for your patience.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The cause attribution — water intrusion into a high-voltage connector — was unusually candid. Most universities decline to specify failure modes in public alerts.
Finals week timing made this a particularly visible incident; The Triton estimated thousands of students were affected.
Context

Background

An overnight power outage struck UC San Diego in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, March 22, 2023, during winter-quarter finals week. According to Associate Director of University Communications Leslie Sepuka, the cause was a material failure in a high-voltage connector that allowed water intrusion from recent heavy rain. The outage primarily affected on-campus residents at Warren, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sixth, and Seventh Colleges. Power was restored by approximately 5:00 AM PDT. Several morning finals were rescheduled or moved to alternate locations. The 2023 incident was the first of three significant UC San Diego power outages in a 27-month span; a larger campus-wide outage in June 2025 — affecting both the main campus and Jacobs Medical Center — would prompt a broader review of UCSD's electrical resilience.
Analysis

Key Findings

Outage began in the pre-dawn hours of March 22, 2023, during winter-quarter finals week.
Cause: water intrusion from heavy rain into a high-voltage connector.
Affected Warren, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sixth, and Seventh Colleges plus surrounding areas.
Power restored by approximately 5:00 AM PDT.
Several finals were rescheduled.
Outcome
Power restored by 5:00 AM PDT on March 22, 2023. One student near Seventh College was injured after stumbling in the darkness and cutting his hand on a sharp railing; he was transported to the hospital. Several finals were rescheduled.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Power Outage Leaves Thousands Without Power During Winter Quarter 2023 Finals Week — The Triton
    triton.news
  2. Official
    Be Prepared for a Power Outage — UC San Diego Blink
    blink.ucsd.edu
  3. Official
    ITS Network & Systems Status — UC San Diego
    status.ucsd.edu
Tags
power-outageinfrastructure-failurefinals-weekwater-intrusioncalifornia2023
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion