The Inland Hurricane

It has been awhile since we've blogged, and a lot of the delay came from knowing that our next entry would be this one. While this event made it on national news for a split second, it somehow stayed out of the natural catatrophe spotlight that our dear media friends have gotten us all addicted to watching.

On the final day of finals (a big move-out day for us), we were hit by what we thought was going to be a strong thunderstorm, at most a tornado. As sirens went off, I (Steven) started heading back to my building to start emergency protocol and figured it'd be a hard enough task with parents in the building. On my short walk back, I was actually able to feel the wind pick up enough to scare me, and by the time I made it to the building, things had started taking a turn for the worse. I was able to make an announcement through our fire panel system about two minutes before our building was hit and power went out. The storm literally just kept punching at us for approximately 15 minutes before relenting. Of those fifteen minutes, we had lost power after the first four.

During this time, Liz did an amazing job taking care of an injured student that made his way into our building for shelter (he had been picked up by the wind and thrown into a fence, cutting deep in between two of his toes [update: he received stitches and is fine). A number of vehicles were smashed by fallen trees and a few individuals freaked out to the point of causing some commotion.

The National Weather Service classified the storm as an "inland hurricane" and I've gotten an image to give you an idea of what we dealing with.

The pictures don't do much credit to the storm, but here are some pictures of our home. Out of 17 floors, only 2 received no damage. The main issue was blown out windows and frames and leaks due to roof damage.

This is the type of event to teach you how little time it takes to do so much damage. Our staff was asked to volunteer to stay longer into the summer to assist with housing issues. Our building was one of the only buildings with any sustained emergency lighting (it lit most of the hallways, but no rooms). So, Schneider Hall became what we referred to as "Refugee Hall" for about a week. Three to four staff meetings were held each day to assess the situation on campus and in town.

After a couple days, our dining team had received a shipment of vegetables and fruits that raised our spirits beyond belief. Each day had been a "cookout," so seeing some green food was exciting (and Liz was even able to get some pineapple!). The other thing we had learned to miss was cold drinks and ice.
With our spirits lifted, we were able to keep up all of the hard work of fire walks (making sure no fires started up from busted lines) and shelter operations. Liz volunteered during this time to help serve lunch, which almost always had lines early and stayed late.

Some random things you'd never think of and some changes we experienced:

1. Without power, our staff realized that when our cell phones died, we would be unable to tell the time. All of the sources of time that we used were electronic. Leave it to my grad, Kevin, to rig up a charger out of batteries for his and my phones...

2. Wildlife changed. All of the birds disappeared and then reappeared as what Liz and I called "ground birds." They were nesting and jumping around the branches in the grass. All of them. Our domestic squirrels disappeared (except for one with a broken leg) and "wild" squirrels appeared. And salamander-looking things popped up.3. I wasn't able to get a good picture, but even still we have small pieces of glass anywhere that you would see rainwater collect (sidewalk cracks, curbs, etc).

4. It is disheartening to feel that nobody outside of the experience understands the magnitude of the event. It makes it really difficult to feel that your experience was validated. Which reminds me, we had counselors in the dining hall checking on people. Not sure how successful they were (they didn't show up until a few days into the event), but nice idea.

Anyway, amazing work. These pictures would be perfect if Liz were in them, but otherwise good.

P.S. Thanks for helping me get out of the tree, Kevin.