VCU students prepare as Sandy approaches Richmond
Staff Reports
CT News Staff
With death tolls continuing to rise in the Caribbean in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Richmond residents and VCU students are bracing for what some are calling the “Frankenstorm.”
VCU announced via the VCU Alerts web page at 7:56 p.m. Sunday that it had cancelled classes and closed university offices for Monday, Oct. 29, due to safety concerns about the storm.
Hurricane Sandy is expected to turn inland and collide with an early winter storm sweeping out of the west to create a kind of superstorm. Early projections indicated that the storm could be more damaging than 2011’s Hurricane Irene. The Commonwealth Times reported last year that Irene caused four deaths around the state and cut power to 373,803 in the Richmond metro area and 912,000 around the state.
Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency for Virginia on Friday, but said that the state would not reverse the direction of lanes on I-64 to enable evacuation routes for those living in the tidewater area. As of Sunday, there were reports of flooding coming from Norfolk but no evacuation orders had been issued by the city or state.
On Saturday, Mayor Dwight Jones declared a local state of emergency, saying that the city would open two emergency shelters: Linwood Holton Elementary School at 1600 W. Laburnum Ave., and J.H. Blackwell Elementary School at 1600 Everett St. GRTC will be available to ferry those residents without transportation to the shelters.
Politicians and power companies urged Virginia residents to gather emergency supplies, including batteries, flashlights, nonperishable foods, water and medications as early as possible.
Many VCU students stocked up before the storm hit.
“I have mass amounts of water already,” said freshman art major Sam Maney.
Leigh Incheck, a sophomore and forensic science major, bought food, batteries and flashlights from Commons Convenience. Freshman Moriah Bazlmit gathered blankets and flashlights.
Some students, like biology major Gabriel Benbow, said they had yet to do anything in preparation of the storm.
“I’ll probably go out today,” he said midday Sunday. Other students reported that a nearby Kroger on Lombardy Street had sold out of water. Pleasant’s Hardware at 2024 W. Broad St. was sold out of gas generators by 8 a.m. Friday morning, according to a Pleasant’s employee.
The VCU Alerts page indicated that VCU would likely experience 2-4 inches of rain and winds reaching a peak of 50-60 mph gusts between noon on Monday and noon on Tuesday, citing Accuweather and National Weather Service reports.
As of Sunday, Virginia State University, Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, Hampton University and William and Mary had all announced closings for at least Monday.
Christopher Newport University’s alerts web page ordered students to vacate all on-campus buildings, including dorms, effective 11 a.m. Sunday morning.
Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and Joe Bide all cancelled campaign stops in Virginia scheduled for this weekend and Monday. Romney was slated to speak at the University of Richmond Sunday afternoon and President Obama called off a stop in Prince William County on Monday. Vice President Biden and his family were planning a stop in Virginia Beach on Saturday.
The Virginia State Board of Elections urged local registrars to work with those voters trying to vote early because of the potential for Sandy to impact election processes on Nov. 6.
