Carson Bonner, Campus Carrier editor-in-chief
Eric Zuniga, Campus Carrier news editor
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a category four hurricane last Thursday at 11 p.m. and swiftly made way inland. The storm caused casualties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and as far north as Virginia. While it was expected to hit Rome more directly, the city saw far less rain and wind than other parts of Georgia, including Atlanta, which is still experiencing power outages and flooding.
Category four hurricanes have sustained winds of 130-156 miles per hour and storm surges of 13-18 feet about sea level. They typically result in extensive damage. As of Sept. 28, almost 500,000 people in Georgia were without power due to trees that toppled onto houses, power lines and other buildings.
Rome experienced heavy rain on Thursday and light rain on Friday. Several neighborhoods lost power, though most only for a few hours. Several areas also experienced some flash flooding.
“The eastern part of Floyd County was most impacted with that,” Deputy Director of Floyd County Emergency Management Chris Fincher said. “We collected, at our emergency operation center, probably between nine and 10 inches of rain, which is significant over a three-day period.”
Rome experienced minor damage for the most part. There were exceptions, however, with several trees falling on power lines and one tree falling on a mobile home.
“A woman was trapped inside, so the fire department had to go in and rescue her from that,” Fincher said. “She’s very lucky to be alive.”
Berry experienced very little damage, despite preparations for a more direct hit. Over the prior week, Physical Plant, administrators and other departments geared up for what was assumed to be a hurricane approaching Berry directly. There were only two or three downed trees on Mountain Campus, and there was no water damage. The only potential effect of the rain would be wet ground affecting Mountain Day activities.
“I don’t see [the wet ground] being an issue at this point as long as it stays dry,” Assistant Vice President for Campus Safety and Land Management Gary Will said. “There’s just been normal ponding in areas that we usually have that.”
Early Thursday, students posted on social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Yik Yak, complaining that Berry administrators had not yet canceled classes. Class cancelations at Berry are rare, with the last one happening three years ago during a freeze. However, later in the afternoon, Will sent an email notifying students that classes would be canceled because of the projected severity and damge of the storm.
“There is a collection of vice presidents that come together and make those decisions,” Will said. “[We take into account] safety of the students on campus, safety of the faculty and staff that have to commute and commuter students. I think it just all comes down to safety at that point.”
According to Will, the fact that not all students live on campus is a factor in determining class cancelations.
“If all students lived on campus and we had power, we could have classes,” Will said. “I don’t know that it’s just one particular group of people that we’re concerned about. Safety can be anything from students leaving their residence hall to go to class and having to climb over a fallen down tree or downed power lines or whatnot or if the lights are out. I mean, that or if there’s no power.”
As of now, 175 people across the Southeast have died because of the storm. Berry did not see any devastating damage, but Atlanta and cities beyond are still recovering and likely will be for several weeks. Federal assistance will come from President Biden to assist with repairs and aid efforts.