A squirrel caused widespread power outages on the Storrs campus of UConn today, which led to school officials canceling several classes and sending some employees home.

UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said a squirrel got into a transformer on top of a power pole on North Eagleville Road and a spark that ran along the power line knocked out the nearest circuit, which serves dozens of buildings on various parts of campus.

“A squirrel had somehow gotten itself in there on top of the pole and had gotten into the transformer and when this squirrel met its demise the spark from this led down the wire over to the circuit and caused the circuit and the transformer both to blow out,” Reitz said.

Power was out from around 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the outage affected more than 50 educational buildings, administrative buildings and residential buildings and classes are canceled for the rest of the day in buildings affected by the outage.

Non-essential employees who work in those buildings were sent home and students in residence halls without power could remain in their rooms.

The following buildings were affected, according to the UConn website: