Williamsburg, VA – Sirens sounded periodically throughout Williamsburg on Saturday as Irene made its steady way towards the city, leaving behind it scenes of flooding and blanket power outages. Even before the storm could bear down on the city with its full brunt, the preceding gusts of foul weather had already done some damage and flooding to the city and to the College of William and Mary. Even at its zenith, though, Irene did little more than cut power and blow over several trees on campus.
Facilities Management staff and William and Mary Police responded to various issues even as portions of the campus lost power and generators were set up in academic buildings. On Sunday, the Emergency Management Team announced that classes would be cancelled through Tuesday at the very least as Dominion Virginia Power struggled to restore electricity to millions across Virginia. According to an email sent out to all students, staff, and faculty, “As of Sunday afternoon, 80 percent of the City of Williamsburg, including large portions of campus, was still without electrical power. This includes several residence halls housing approximately 800 students. Dominion Virginia Power is currently assessing power outages in the region. At this point, they cannot provide a definite time when power will be restored to the College.”
Small pockets of students remained in Williamsburg over the weekend, weathering the storm from the confines of their off-campus houses, venturing out only to pick through what remained at Bloom and the smattering of other stores that remained open during the afternoon.
A call placed to Dominion Virginia Power yielded little besides promises that an announcement would be made Monday, August 29th, at noon with information as to when customers can expect their power to return. At this point, they are “assessing the damage.”
The Emergency Management Team encouraged students not to return to campus on Monday as previously planned.
T.J. O’Sullivan is the editor of the Virginia Informer. He is a contributor to The College Fix.
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