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Wind causes damages to campus |
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Thursday, 19 April 2007 |
by SARA HAYNES
Intern News Reporter
Despite the first impression one might get, Rhett L. Huffman, a freshman music performance major, can still drive his white van.
This might be surprising, as the entire top of a tree fell on it Sunday night, crushing the roof and
breaking several of the windows.
 Active Image | Sara Haynes | The Appalachian
With
winds reaching 53 miles per hour during the past few days, 12 to 14
trees were uprooted throughout campus leaving three vehicles damaged.
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The tree was so large it blocked the Living Learning Center entrance,
where the van was parked, and blocked emergency vehicles from accessing
the scene.
The tree fell due to the high winds, which reached up to 53 miles per hour at some points this week.
The gusts have
wreaked havoc on campus since Saturday, when reports of downed trees
started coming in to the Physical Plant Landscaping Services.
“We had between 12 and 14 downed trees reported between last Saturday
and [Tuesday] morning,” Jim L. Bryan, a building and environmental
manager at the physical plant, said.
Bryan said downed trees have damaged two other vehicles – a pickup truck and a Blazer in Greenwood Parking Lot.
“We also had three large trees down near the intramural fields at State
Farm,” Bryan said. He added that most plants on campus, already dying
due to the cold snap, are being finished off by the winds.
“Students who are walking down stairs between dorms and on Greenwood trail need to watch out for hanging limbs,” he said.
Bryan cautioned that limbs can be knocked down at a moment’s notice.
If students see a potentially dangerous hanging limb, they are asked to contact the physical plant.
Another problem the winds and accompanying storms have caused in Boone is power outages.
“There have been no outages on campus because the power lines are
underground,” Lynn Tester, the engineering supervisor for campus
electricity provider New River Light and Power, said.
“In town, we had scattered outages, sometimes just single homes, in the south and east,” Tester said.
He explained
that in order to knock out power on campus, the transmission line into
Boone or a substation transformer would have to be taken out.
Report a power outage to New River Light and Power or Boone Police after office hours.
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