Brian Clemmenson
Equinox Staff
In a dorm room someone hears screaming outside. Someone thinks that it is just another girl outside screaming about something, however, looking out the window there is black sky and trees swaying back and forth, the puddles accumulating as the rain continues to fall rapidly. Then the student finally realizes that it wasn’t a girl, it was Mother Nature, the Frankenstorm, and Hurricane Sandy.
It was supposed to be another ordinary late October, a Monday at Keene State College, but Mother Nature on Oct. 29 had other ideas unleashing the Frankenstorm that afternoon.
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According to the National Weather Service a Frankenstorm is, “A very large and dangerous storm formed by a combination of storms; in particular, a combined storm formed when a hurricane encounters other winter storms.” As a result of the Frankenstorm and Hurricane Sandy KSC had Curtailed Operations for Monday, Oct. 29.
On Sunday night there was a bulletin published on MyKSC to all guests and members stating that there would be Curtailed Operations at KSC for Monday. In addition members of City Watch received an alert in the form of a phone call and text message. As a result of Curtailed Operations all classes were canceled on Monday, nonessential administrative offices were closed, the Child Development Center and all campus events were cancelled, including the scheduled visit by Vice President Joe Biden. Director of Campus Safety Amanda Warman said, “We have a group that comes together. The President, Vice Presidents, Physical Plant, Campus Safety, Residential Life, and our communications staff.” So the decision is not made by just one person.
Even with the Curtailed Operations the Zorn Dining Commons was open for regular hours. Hoot n’ Scoot closed at 3 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. A bulletin uploaded to MyKSC at 11:48 a.m. on October 29 it encouraged students to swipe their cards at Hoot n’ Scoot after lunch and get a meal so they wouldn’t have to go out during the height of the storm.
The average wait at Hoot n’ Scoot was 15 to 20 minutes for a meal to go the line as the line was out the door. Two sophomores, Eric Conlan and Luke Cowper, said the normal Monday menu was being used and that more food than usual was out. In addition, Sophomore Amanda Joyce who was there with two friends stated, “They kept up with it very well.” Joyce added, that they probably would not be going out again saying, “The [dining comons is open] if we’re really hungry.”
The student center which is open until midnight Monday thru Friday closed at 10 p.m. on Monday Night closed early. Lloyd’s Marketplace closed at 2 p.m. and the Bean and Bagel closed at 9 p.m.
The height of the storm took place between the hours of 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. During that time heavy rains and winds swept across Keene and other regions of New Hampshire. Governor John Lynch declared a state of emergency; as a result Campus Officials asked students to shelter in place.
Officials encouraged students to not leave their residence during the height of the storm. If students did leave they had to sign in and out with the desk attendant. Also during the storm were 24-hour desk attendants initiated by The Office of Residential Life. During the storm Warman hoped that students would “heed the advice,” and that calls would be down to a minimal during the storm. Warman added that Campus Safety had many protocols when dealing with certain events such as protocols for power outages.
Overall, though it looked like students did heed the advice they were told as Campus Safety was not very active during the storm, as there were only five calls: three on Monday, and two on Tuesday. In an email with the final figures from Warman it stated that, Monday’s calls were for, theft violation, an alcohol violation and drug paraphernalia. The two calls Tuesday were for the smell of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and another separate call for the smell of marijuana.
Also there were not many damages to report on campus. According to Jim Carley, associate director of facilities there were a few leaks in a few Resident Halls one room in Butler Court had, a room in Randall, and room and a hallway in Carle Hall. A Residential Assistant in Carle who wanted to remain anonymous said, “There was water in the stairway and it was cleaned up.” None of the damages were anything major and anything to worry about.
The storm also did not as cause much damage to off campus residents and many said the storm did not live up to hype. Senior Ally Hutchins, who lives off campus with three roommates said, “We bought two huge jugs of water and we got snacks, we want to the dollar store and didn’t lose power.” She and her roommates were hyped up they even purchased candles in case of power outage. Hutchins added, “We thought our house was going to flood.” Hutchins’ house did not end up flooding.
Many others including her thought the storm was going to be much worse. The Keene area according to The Weather Channel only received 1.83 inches of rain. A few wind gusts were recorded over 40 mph as well. There were no other major damages to report around campus.
On Tuesday, Oct. 30 at noon KSC resumed normal operations again as authorized by Interim President Jay Kahn. Students received an announcement in their MyKSC accounts shortly before 9 p.m. As a result of operations resuming at noon all morning classes were cancelled. However, there were nine afternoon classes canceled according to the class cancellation page on the KSC website.
KSC and the surrounding community were very fortunate with Hurricane Sandy and the Frankstorm as tri-state area suffered some horrific damage in parts of New Jersey, New York City and Connecticut. The costs of damages for the affected parts of the country could total $50 billion, according to an AP story by Matthew Craft.
Brian Chemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com.