This weekend, Duke narrowly escaped damage from a pummeling of storms.
Other areas of North Carolina and the South were hit hard by storms and tornadoes— at least 43 have died throughout the South and at least 23 were killed in North Carolina.
More than eight tornadoes were reported throughout the state over the weekend, and Gov. Bev Perdue declared a state of emergency on Saturday night.
The storm extensively damaged Raleigh, only 25 miles from Durham. The city of Raleigh reported three deaths.
According to a press release, Shaw University in Raleigh experienced significant structural damages to dormitories and the University’s student union. Shaw University has suspended classes for the remainder of the semester as a result.
There are no confirmed fatalities in the city of Durham said Jill Lucas, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management. Deaths have been reported in Bertie, Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Johnston, Lee and Wake counties.
Although no one was injured at Duke, the University was hit with strong rain and storms throughout the weekend with the majority of severe weather occurring on Saturday.
Students experienced wavering Internet access and some dormitories flooded, said Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek.
Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residential life, said damage reports from flooded dormitories, including Craven Quadrangle, have been submitted to Residence Life and Housing Services.
Some students noticed the lack of Internet available after the storm. Stephen O’Donnell, senior communications strategist for the Office of Information Technology, wrote in an email that OIT is trying to make sure Duke’s networks are prepared for future weather events.
“We continue to investigate the root cause of the severely degraded network performance on Saturday,” O’Donnell wrote. “Because of the severity of the degradation and the fact that it occurred simultaneously with the severe weather event, we are taking time to investigate before announcing a final root cause.”
Freshman Ashley Lewis said she was frustrated by the lack of Internet access. She added that once she got connected to the Internet, her connection was still much slower than usual.
“I lost Internet access for a while and it threw me off for a little bit,” Lewis said. “I had research to do for a presentation but I ultimately just connected to the Duke visitor network and was able to access the Internet. That worked, and it was all good after that. Now I’m just hoping that others affected by the storms will be OK.”
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