The Hurricarana

For those of you in the midwest who have never lived or vacayed on the east coast, I present you with a glimpse of "hurricaneland". I think that Hanna is going to be no big deal, but you can bet your sweet bippies that we have a close eye on Ike. That said, I'm off to Boston this weekend, so I am a little worried for the kidlet, who will remain her with my sister during the storm.

In other small world weird news... my bestest friend here may soon be visiting central Illinois. He flies into St. Louis in a few weeks, and then drives "three hours or so north" for a work thing. How weird that he could end up in C-U or B-N even though we met out here.

Date: Thu 4 Sep 17:29:05 EDT
Subject: Tropical Storm Hannah

To Faculty, Staff and Students,

Tropical Storm Hannah is predicted to arrive in Williamsburg on Saturday morning. Rains will begin Friday evening and will likely continue through late Saturday afternoon. The College will remain open tomorrow, Friday, September 5 and classes will be held as scheduled.

The current forecast is for 2-4 inches of rain on Saturday with winds gusting to 40 mph. There is a strong possibility we will lose power during this period.

Students

The College will remain open. In the event the College loses power residence halls are equipped with emergency lighting. Food service will be provided in the Commons. Those students not on a meal plan may purchase food there. Bus Service will continue until wind gusts reach 40 mph or debris blocks the roads. You may store your bicycle in your room. Be sure to back up your computer data and consider turning off your computer when the storm is passing through

Faculty and Staff

Facilities Management will begin to secure loose equipment and clear debris that could cause flooding. All generators are being prepared for operation if needed. For those of you with radio systems, please be sure they are charged. We are asking that before leaving the campus on Friday all faculty and staff be sure to save their files and shut down as much equipment as possible.

Events

We plan to make the determination tomorrow morning as to whether we will need to cancel all events scheduled for Saturday. However, in light of current information we ask you to consider cancelling your events, particularly those that will bring large groups to campus.

Communications

The College’s Emergency Operations Center will be staffed on Saturday. If necessary, we will use the mass notification system to disseminate urgent information. We have backup manual systems in place to communicate messages if cell phone and email systems also fail.

Hurricane Ike

Lagging a few days behind Hannah is Hurricane Ike, a much stronger storm. We will continue to monitor Ike throughout the weekend to determine whether additional steps should be taken for your safety and for the operation of the campus.

What’s next?

We will continue to monitor Hannah and continue to update you on changing conditions. In the meantime, please think about the essentials you will need over the next several days such as medicines and other personal items. Our next communication will be tomorrow morning.

Stay safe and take care of each other.