As students battled the negatives temperatures outside early last week, little relief was found inside Centennial Halls. Heat was out on several of the floors in addition to the Internet and power.

Power outages started around 3 a.m. Tuesday in the north tower of Centennial Halls. The problems climaxed around 3 p.m. later that day when a faulty heating pipe burst on the second floor, setting off fire alarms and forcing students to evacuate outside.

First-year student Liz Roberts, whose room was where the accident occurred, said, “Nothing was damaged. We lucked out.”

Faced with a less than perfect homecoming, student morale in Halls was thin. Kassidi Cypher, another first-year student, said, “I am paying a lot of money to live in a dark, cold cave.”

Dry-erase boards on the surrounding doors read “It is an artic tundra in here” and “Give us heat or give us death!”

Katie Melton, the resident assistant for the second floor of the north tower, said, “To alleviate some of the discomfort of the situation, I really tried to encourage residents to go find a small ceramic space heater. They really were a saving grace when all other heat was not working.”

Roberts and her roommate were relocated to another room down the hall, to allow the carpet to dry out.

The maintenance team and residence directors were able to fix the problem by mid-afternoon on Tuesday.

Heat and Internet connection began working again Wednesday.