Braving a rare and unprecedented October nor’easter that rocked the East coast over the weekend, University of Massachusetts students and Amherst residents are coping the best they can considering the unforeseen circumstances that have cut power throughout most of western Massachusetts.

As of yesterday evening, approximately 65 percent of residents in Amherst, 49 percent of Hadley and a large percentage of other neighboring towns were still without power in the aftermath of the storm, which has caused power outages across the Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, according to an online outage map maintained by Western Massachusetts Electric.

The storm’s effects have been made known throughout the UMass community, as some students living off campus are left without power in their residences and have been forced to search for housing or a place to stay on campus.

According to a University release that was posted yesterday evening, the campus has opened the Campus Center and Student Union for 24 hours a day for the foreseeable future, which has caused students to flock into the buildings in an effort to seek shelter, warmth or even just a place to do homework.

“It really hasn’t been that easy,” said senior Nikki Lownds, who lives off campus on Hobart Lane, and found shelter with her roommate in the basement of the Campus Center. “We got up early to beat everyone coming here to get the outlets, and once we got one, we didn’t want to leave, so we’ve been here all day.

“We’ll be here all night,” she added.

Lownds and her roommate are two of many scattered across the Campus Center and Student Union, who have found temporary shelter in the form of tables and chairs, benches and even the floor as they wait for power restoration.

Amanda De Leon, a senior who commutes from Chicopee, is also finding temporary shelter in the Campus Center.

After parking her car at Mount Holyoke College and taking a bus to campus, she learned soon after that the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority stopped servicing for the night, stranding her on campus with nowhere to go last night.

“I talked to a few people, I talked to the PVTA, and there’s no way to get home,” said De Leon. “The hotel is full, and I’m guessing I’m not going to get in there for free, so I’m pretty much stranded here at the school. I have no family in Massachusetts.

“I’m guessing that I’m going to have to find a couch downstairs or somewhere, and just stay for the night,” she added.

Aaron Berard is a senior psychology major and a resident of Puffton Village, which remained without power as of 11 p.m. last night. He said he has been without power since Saturday night and estimated they might get power within the next couple of days. He said he received a message from Western Massachusetts Electric saying this storm was the most expensive storm to hit western Massachusetts.

Berard recalled the damage caused by Hurricane Irene late this summer and said he saw the same kind of damage from this snowstorm.

Some students such as Stephanie Lawson, a junior psychology major and a resident of Hobart Lane, are staying with friends due to the power outage. Lawson is staying with a friend in Brandywine.

In downtown Amherst, Antonio’s Pizza was one of the few stores open in Amherst Center on Sunday night. Manager Jay Carreiro said despite losing power late on Saturday and resorting to a generator, they stayed open and were able to serve their customers because of their gas ovens.

On Sunday night, Antonio’s had a line snaking around the store with candles lining the counters for light. Carreiro said a lot of employees “stepped up” that night and provided the manpower to keep the store running. Carreiro said they saw a lot of customers on Sunday night because many people were looking for food due to the power outage and many other restaurants and stores were closed due to lack of power.

“Everyone’s looking for food, we did the best we could,” he said.

Carreiro said they kept the store open this weekend to “keep ourselves occupied, have fun and serve food to the people.”

Some people are leaving town to escape the slowly dropping temperatures in their house. Worried that his house will become ever colder than a frigid 53 degrees, Simon Luetz along with his wife and two sons, who are 9 and 5 years old, are leaving their home in downtown Amherst to stay with family member in Greenfield who have power.

In addition to dealing with a freezing house, Leutz is trying to cope with “sporadic” cell phone service from AT&T, the large branches tangled with power lines strewn across his street and the uncertainty of when the power will turn back on.

Previously, Leutz believed once the town had power, his neighborhood would power as well, but that is not the case as of last night.

In a statement on the Amherst town website yesterday, Town Manager John Musante said the full restoration of power is likely to take multiple days. He also said that the town center, University Drive and College Street are likely to regain power first.  For more information on the power outages, visit Amherstma.gov for town reports or outage.wmeco.com/outage/outagemap.aspx for a map of where power has been restored.

Stephen Hewitt can be reached at [email protected]. Nancy Pierce can be reached at [email protected].