Spring Break Starts Early At Texas Tech After Explosion, Green Flames Shooting Out Of Manhole

Students at Texas Tech University are waking up to the news that their spring break is starting a little early this year.

The good news? A couple extra days in Cancun.

The bad news? Spring break is starting early because of an explosion and some weird green flames shooting out of manholes on campus.

According to KCBD, Lubbock Fire Rescue got a call at around 7 pm on Wednesday about a gas leak on a part of the university's campus known as Engineering Key.

When they arrived they saw smoke and flames coming out of manholes.

And not just regular flames. Bright green flames.

I've never been to Lubbock, but… I'm going to assume that's normal.

Well, it's not. Along with the flames, there was also an explosion at a substation and power outages that left parts of the campus in the dark.

"I heard an explosion and then saw a smoke ring, almost like a cartoon or something," doctoral degree student Robert Gauthreaux III said in an interview with KCBD-TV. "It traveled about 200 feet in the air."

Gauthreaux said that one person ended up getting stuck in an elevator, but noted that despite the situation people seemed to "be getting along, playing guitar in the dark; that sort of thing."

There were no reports of hacky-sacking, seeing as it was probably too dark.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident, but parts of campus were evacuated.

It was also reported that power was shut off to the entire campus so that repair efforts could begin, while a school spokesperson asked that people avoid the area.

As the night went on the school announced that its campus would be shut down on Thursday and Friday.

Not long after that, the school said that students were allowed back in residence halls, but asked that staff members not return to Engineering Key until further notice.

Good to hear that no one was hurt, and hopefully they get things under control, but in the meantime, enjoy your bonus spring break, Texas Tech folks!