Power outages swept through much of central and west Lawrence on Monday, including Kansas University’s campus.

KU freshman Brenna Daldorph was working an espresso machine at Pulse, the coffee bar inside The Underground food court in Wescoe Hall, when the lights went out just before 4 p.m.

The only problem: A half-hour later the lights flickered back on and she had to go back to work.

“Everything went dark and everything turned off,” Daldorph said. “I’m mad the lights came back on. We were almost out of here.”

Monday afternoon, about 11,000 Lawrence residents lost power when a switch near a substation at 15th Street and Kasold Drive broke, said Gina Penzig, a Westar spokeswoman.

Beyond the KU campus, the switch failure cut power between Iowa Street and Kasold Drive, from Peterson Road to Clinton Parkway.

Most residents – and the majority of KU’s campus – had power restored by around 4:20 p.m., Penzig said. But not before stuck elevators trapped several students and false fire alarms sounded campuswide.

Rob Kort, a battalion chief with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical, said firefighters responded to several calls of alarms and elevator problems, but that power was restored so quickly that campus troubles cleared themselves up before crews arrived.

The university dispatched crews to tour campus and check buildings, KU spokesman Todd Cohen said, but as of 5 p.m. Monday there were no reports of any serious problems or people trapped in elevators.

Cohen said the campus has two electrical feeds – one regular feed, one for back-up power – but both failed Monday. The entire campus went dark.

KU junior Michaela Ayers was at work in the School of Engineering dean’s office when the computers suddenly shut down.

After waiting around a while, Ayers got the OK to leave. “Thank you, whoever did this,” she said.

Though crews restored power by 4:20 p.m. Monday, Penzig said it wasn’t a permanent fix. West Lawrence residents and businesses were re-routed to lines with additional electrical space, she said.

The switch will undergo further repairs Thursday, she said, but residents in the area shouldn’t lose power then.