Hurricane Sandy blows through Durham

Those who weren’t evacuating the UNH campus this weekend could be found battening down the hatches in preparation for Hurricane Sandy, which was set to hit New Hampshire on Monday.

UNH sent out a curtailed operations notice at 5 p.m. on the Friday before the storm hit. This notification stated that the university would curtail operations and cancel all classes from 4 a.m. Monday to 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Emails from Chief of Police Paul H. Dean were continually sent out to campus residents over the weekend and into the beginning of the week. On Sunday, students living “within a reasonable driving distance” were urged to leave the UNH campus before the storm hit.

Brian Carpenter, a UNH sophomore, took heed of these warnings. “There were a bunch of emails saying if we lost power there was no backup,” he said, “so we would all have to evacuate to the Whitt or something. My friend Joe is an RA, and he told me to just go home because it was really going to suck if we lost power.”

In an email sent out on Friday, Chief Dean wrote that widespread power outages could be expected as a result of the storm. UNH draws its power from both a co-generation plant, and Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH). Currently, the co-generation plant is offline for maintenance, leaving PSNH as UNH’s only power source. If the storm caused an outage at PSNH, UNH would have no back-up power supply.

The UNH emergency planning group met Monday morning to discuss storm preparations. Holloway and Philbrook dining halls were open only until 1 p.m. but students could pick up a box dinner to bring back to their dorms. Memorial Union Building closed at 2 p.m. and the Dimond Library remained closed all of Monday.

These modified hours gave some students reason to leave campus. Kally Riddinger, a junior at UNH, said she left mainly because she had no food in her dorm, and didn’t want to deal with going to the dining halls during the storm. “If I didn’t have food,” she said, “I probably would have been really upset.” Riddinger left UNH for her home in Pelham, NH, Sunday night and returned to campus Tuesday.

By Monday afternoon, Governor John Lynch issued a State of Emergency for New Hampshire. Motorists were advised to be off the roads by 3 p.m. and 100  National Guard members were put on active duty to help prepare for the storm.

Hurricane Sandy officially hit New Hampshire Monday evening, with strong rain and gusts up to 70 mph. The storm was categorized as a Category 1 hurricane by Monday night.

Parts of the UNH campus lost power around 9 p.m. Monday night. Ryan Thiebauth, a junior at UNH, noted the brief loss of power at his dorm in the Sercs. “I don’t care if we lose power,” he said, “I’m still not evacuating. My bed is here, and it’s comfy and warm. I’ll just go to sleep; I don’t need power for that.” He said the power came back on about an hour and a half later.

In the aftermath of the storm, Hurricane Sandy left around 137,000 PSNH customers without power, affecting over 100 New Hampshire towns. According to PSNH, 21 percent of Durham experienced a power outage during the storm. Nationwide, Hurricane Sandy has left over 2 million people without power.

At his home in Lunenburg, Mass., Carpenter experienced a loss of power than the UNH campus. “I kind of wish I didn’t go home,” he said. “We lost power for 10 hours, and UNH barely lost power. I was so pissed.”

Hurricane Sandy began brewing in the Caribbean in mid-October, but only hit the East Coast of the United States on October 27. Since then, it has caused mass power outages an flooding across many states. Several sources put the death toll near 50.

Despite the gravity of the storm, Hurricane Sandy has garnered attention through various Internet “memes” and through various Twitter accounts that tweet comments like “IT’S RAAAAAAAAAININ MEN. LITERALLY. I JUST PICKED UP A BUNCH OF DUDES AND THREW THEM.”

However, not even these jokes and puns could distract everyone from the destruction already caused. Chayanna Acevedo, a UNH senior said, “Sandy wasn't that intense here, but that doesn't mean others were not tragically affected elsewhere. People need to stop making stupid jokes and saying it was ‘weak’.” By comparison, Sandy is both wider and stronger than last August’s Hurricane Irene.

“My family, friends and home are safe,” said Acevedo. “Not everyone can say that after these past two days. People need to stop to think how blessed we are.”