The NJIT library remains on generator power, a PSE&G spokesman said.
NEWARK -- Power has been restored to most Newark buildings as of 8:15 a.m. Friday, after an all-day power outage in several city buildings followed an early Thursday morning manhole fire, according to PSE&G.
Classes in five buildings on Rutgers University's Newark campus were canceled Thursday, as well as classes in several New Jersey Institute of Technology buildings, officials said. St. Michael's Medical Center was also forced to run on generator power, but no patient services were impacted, a spokesman said.
Classes canceled due to power outage
According to PSE&G spokeswoman Karen Johnson, PSE&G restored power to the remaining two Rutgers University buildings and another at NJIT by Friday morning.
"The only building to remain on generator power at this time is the NJIT library. St. Michael's Medical Center is in the process of transferring to utility power as well," she said. "Although power was been restored, PSE&G will continue working at the site to make permanent repairs to its underground facilities."
Johnson said it would take a while to determine the true cause of the outage, since several underground cables failed for unknown reasons before the early morning manhole fire.
On Friday, Rutgers announced that classes in three buildings and the library would go on as normal, though morning labs were canceled in Olson and the Life Sciences Center, set to resume in the afternoon.
UPDATE Power is restored; all campus and classes operating on a normal schedule: https://t.co/ZH01MnLQy2
-- Rutgers-Newark (@Rutgers_Newark) April 15, 2016
"We fully expect power to be restored today to the Life Sciences Center and Olson. No classes are scheduled to meet in Olson today," the university said in a press release issued at 9 a.m..
According to university officials, University Avenue between Bleeker and Warren Streets will remain closed on Friday for repair work and traffic in downtown Newark "may continue to be affected."
NJIT also tweeted that it was altering its class schedule in one building Friday as a result of the power issues, though it later said power was fully restored to the GITC building.
Power outage still impacting GITC building. Classes in GITC cancelled until 10 AM. CAB is operating on generator an... pic.twitter.com/23GwIuB3T0
-- NJIT (@NJIT) April 15, 2016
Update: Loss of IT Services Due to Power Failure https://t.co/egfFpi4Sqf
-- NJIT (@NJIT) April 15, 2016
Laura Herzog may be reached at lherzog@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LauraHerzogL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.