Title says it all. Campus remains dark, powerless, and unheated, but at least we’re getting a snow day out of it. No one quite knows when power will be restored—it may be as late as Wednesday or Thursday, but we’re hoping for the best. Governor Malloy declared a state of emergency, says over 800,000 homes are without power, many of them in Middlesex County. (“This is the largest number of power outages that we have ever experienced,” added the governor.) At this point, maybe 20-50% of upperclassmen (myself included) have managed to leave campus. Those somehow still reading this at Wes: stay warm. Keep on keeping on. Happy Halloween.
To the concerned parents reading this: your child is most likely fine, albeit tucked under a hefty pile of blankets (perhaps even in SciLi). Be warned that he or she probably has no easy way of getting in touch with you, considering there’s still no way to charge phones or computers on campus, and internet access is spotty or barely existent at best. No news isn’t necessarily bad news. As one student reported in Wesleying comments earlier today,
there were some shuttles that went around distributing sandwiches. Exley is open as a “warming” area for the night. Generally, students seem to be chilling in hallways hanging out with friends and a lot of students are going off campus to charge phones and laptops. Everyone’s fine! Don’t worry! Its a fun adventure for people on campus– and to be honest, we’re taking advantage of snow covered Foss to get some good sledding in. As far as I know, Parents Weekend is still on. Wesleyan should be back to normal by Wednesday.
Middletown itself is entirely without power or working stop lights (“Reminder: If you come across an intersection w/ the stop light out, treat it as a four-way stop,” Governor Malloy tweeted), but apparently New Haven and Hartford have power. The lack of heat remains especially problematic. “If you expect your housing to be unreasonably cold, you may bring blankets and a pillow to the Science Library beginning at 4 pm,” reports an all-campus email/voicemail circulating. Regarding food: “A continental breakfast will be available at the Usdan Center Monday starting at 9 am., but no food services will be available before then.” (Also important: WesWings is hosting a “Snowtober Grill Lunch” tomorrow, aiming to “feed as many as we are able, on us.” Ed Thorndike ’89, you’re the man.) (Edit: Ed adds: “Weswings will have hot coffee and a charging station set up for cell phones in addition to a free cookout.”)
Here’s the full text of the all-campus email/storm update that’s been circulating:
Officials from Connecticut Light and Power have informed us that Wesleyan won’t have power or heat for at least 24 hours and perhaps longer. Therefore, we are canceling classes on Monday. Faculty and staff are requested to stay home, except for essential personnel. It will be cold tonight in Wesleyan’s residences. Students may wish to leave campus; alternatively, if you expect your housing to be unreasonably cold, you may bring blankets and a pillow to the Science Library beginning at 4 pm. A continental breakfast will be available at the Usdan Center Monday starting at 9 am., but no food services will be available before then.
If you stay on campus, please remain inside with the windows closed. Please stay away from downed power lines and trees. Do not use candles or anything else that would create a danger of fire. We will provide another update early Monday afternoon.
And some more pertinent links:
- Storm update @ wesleyan.edu
- Outage Map
- “Storm Leaves More Than 2 Million Without Power” [NYT]
- frostedmoose‘s post [see comments for more helpful info]
- “CL&P says storm damage more severe than Irene” [Middletown Press]
- Food Safety Precautions for when power goes out
Image via The Middletown Eye
20 – 50, huh?
Weswings will have hot coffee and a charging station set up for cell phones in addition to a free cookout