Was/is there no freezer in a nearby lab? We've had to move stuff around the department before.
That is a really devastating thing to happen, you may be able to get a small extension on your PhD though. It is partly the nature of research that your purified protein will get lost on a column, or will get munched by proteases, and all your lab equipment will break down when you desperately need it. That's my experience anyway!
Monkey me I'm just speechless about your post, the poor PhD finding that out!