As Hurricane Sandy made itsway up the eastern seaboard on Monday, Bowdoin braced for impact. In the end, the storm brought only heavy rain and high winds, which caused some power outages, but spared the region the devastation felt further south.
At 11 a.m. on Monday morning Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster sent a school-wide email announcing early closures of the C-Store, Jack Magee’s Pub and the Café, warning community members that high winds could cause power losses and advising everyone to charge their electronics.
At 11:24 a.m. the College declared a weather emergency. By 1 p.m. the Office of Safety and Security canceled the service due to the storm.
Students flocked to Smith Union to stock up on provisions and other necessities before it closed.
The College took emergency precautions in advance of the storm. Facilities sandbagged the below-ground entrances to Moulton Union and Studzinski Recital Hall. They also covered the basement floor windows of Hubbard Hall with boards to protect them from wind and falling branches.
Residential Life and Security coordinated a contingency plan to evacuate Pine Street Apartments, which would be particularly vulnerable to falling trees if winds surpassed 50 miles per hour. Associate Director of Residential Life Lisa Rendall communicated the plans to Pine Street residents in an email Monday morning, advising students to move their cars to the Farley Lot and find friends who could host them for the night.
Nobody was evacuated from the apartments in the end.
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Scott Hood said the precautions were necessary, even though the storm did not end up causing much damage.
“I don’t think you can over-prepare for something like this,” he said, “The reports were that we were facing a pretty serious storm.”
He went on to explain the College’s disaster-response protocol.
“We have a Campus Emergency Management Team that has representation from across campus—the dean of students, the dean of faculty, Treasurer’s Office, facilities, dining, you name it. There is a whole set of protocols that we use depending on what we’re facing.”
The families of some students from the New York-New Jersey area, however, were seriously affected by the storm.
Adam Berliner ’13, whose family lives in Brooklyn, said his parents had to leave their home.
“My parents moved out of their place on Monday,” he said, “They lost power. The substation exploded on the East Side. Lower Manhattan was out of power, so they moved to a hotel just a couple blocks from their house.”
Hood pointed out some ways in which it was more manageable than some potential campus emergencies.
“A situation like this is somewhat easier to deal with,” he said. “We certainly had advanced warning, so it’s not like something happened and you have to immediately react.”