Video on social media showed fires appearing to come out of manholes.
LUBBOCK, Texas — An explosion at a substation Wednesday night caused widespread power outages at Texas Tech University and its Health Sciences Center, according to the university’s emergency communications system.
An alert went out to students at 7:12 p.m., stating that a power outage was affecting the campus. About 20 minutes later, another alert came saying they were evacuating the Engineering Key due to a gas odor.
At 8:42 p.m., an updated alert said that an explosion at a substation was the cause of the power outages; however, at 9:42 p.m., another alert from the Texas Tech Police Department said that an explosion at a manhole was affecting multiple locations on campus and causing widespread power outages.
Videos taken by witnesses on campus showed flames coming from manholes, including one clip that captured green flames shooting aggressively from a manhole.
The cause of these fires was not immediately clear. Texas Tech PD said more information would be provided as it becomes available.
This is a developing story. WFAA will update this article with the latest information.