With Hurricane Sandy hurtling toward the Atlantic coast, GW will shut its doors Monday – the first University-wide closure since the 2010 Snowpocalypse.
Showers and powerful gusts greeted the city Sunday night, the starting punch of a harsh storm that forecasters expect will see up to 70 mph winds, 10 inches of rain and widespread power outages.
All academic buildings and libraries, as well as the Lerner Health and Wellness Center and the Smith Center, will remain closed Monday as campus braces for the storm. The federal and District governments will join area universities in the shutdown, and flights and trains have canceled trips in and out of the region.
Administrators were in close contact with the D.C. government and federal agencies throughout the weekend, keeping students glued to social media and GW’s campus advisory page to find out about class
What to expect:
Monday
Skies: pounding showers all day
Winds: 35-50 mph, surging to 70 mph at night
Temperature: 40 degrees
Tuesday
Skies: heavy rains throughout the morning, settling by noon
Winds: up to 60 mph
Temperature: as low as 37 degrees
Wednesday
Skies: cloudy and calm, 30 percent chance of rain
Winds: low winds
Temperature: high of 54 degrees
cancellations. The cancellation message hit cell phones and inboxes at about 6 p.m. Sunday, hours after schools along the East Coast began announcing closings – sending students into revelry on Facebook and Twitter, and in some cases, into the streets.
The University has designated shelters – the Marvin Center, the Smith Center and the Media and Public Affairs building – but the Senior Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Darrell Darnell said students would be safe in their residence halls and apartments. Campus dining halls have stocked up and will maintain normal operating hours to feed students.
“If students follow instructions, stay indoors, don’t go outside, stay away from windows, everyone will be safe,” Darnell said.
The Vern Express will operate on a normal schedule as long as road conditions permit, but service could be suspended if the weather worsens, University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said Sunday night. Like the Metro, which cancelled all trains and buses starting Monday, bus service to the Virginia Science and Technology Campus is suspended until further notice.
The hurricane has sent federal, city and University officials in a scramble to respond to the historic – and alarming – storm that will creep up the East Coast and merge with a cold front crossing the Northeast. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for the District late Sunday.
"Let me be clear. This storm is unique, large, dangerous and unlike anything our region has ever experienced in a very a long time,” Mayor Vincent Gray said at a press conference Sunday.
Crews began battening down campus this weekend, clearing storm drains and preparing sandbags. The Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses are equipped with generators in case of power outages, and the University sent extra generators to the Vern, which is prone to losing electricity during heavy storms.
“Because of the city’s power grid, we seem to always have a problem with the Mount Vernon campus. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so we brought in extra generators for that campus,” Darnell said Saturday night. "Critical facilities” on the Foggy Bottom Campus already had backup generators, he said.
Additional facilities personnel, including police and housekeeping employees, will remain on-call during the storm, Darnell said, and members may be housed on campus or in hotels depending on the severity of the storm.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority began prepping for the storm Friday by placing sandbags around potential water entry points to Metro rail tunnels and scheduling additional staff to respond to arising problems.
The University also worked with construction contractors to safeguard major construction sites across campus including the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Public Health and Health Services pits.
“[The contractors] have their own emergency plans in place for the storm, especially to make sure the cranes can sustain wind,” Darnell said. The crane at the Science and Engineering Hall construction zone remained secure following the impact of Hurricane Irene in August 2011.
Hurricane Irene forced the University to allow students to move into their residence halls earlier than scheduled to avoid the swirling storm. But Irene toppled only a handful of trees and news stands on campus, largely sparing the District and producing minimal damage.
Julie Alderman, Brianna Gurciullo, Chloe Sorvino, Matthew Kwiecinski, Cory Weinberg and Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.
Those dumb contractors at the Marriott hotel construction at 515 20th St are still making noise on Monday even when the Hurricane is hitting. Isn’t construction suppose to be halted by city officials?
This is live web cam for DC and area
http://weather.weatherbug.com/DC/Washington-weather/weather-cams/local-cams.html?zcode=z6286&camera_id=-1
Hurricane Sandy: View From Above – Interactive Feature – NYTimes.com webcam from TIMES building
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/28/nyregion/nyt-webcam.html
Full Moon Tonight
Super Photo ! Thanks ~ Freddo Lin | Hatchet Staff Photographer
30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself
http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/18/30-things-to-start-doing-for-yourself/
Start noticing how wealthy you are right now. – Henry David Thoreau once said, “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” Even when times are tough, it’s always important to keep things in perspective. You didn’t go to sleep hungry last night. You didn’t go to sleep outside. You had a choice of what clothes to wear this morning. You hardly broke a sweat today. You didn’t spend a minute in fear. You have access to clean drinking water. You have access to medical care. You have access to the Internet. You can read. Some might say you are incredibly wealthy, so remember to be grateful for all the things you do have.
Start spending time with the right people. – These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.
Start facing your problems head on. – It isn’t your problems that define you, but how you react to them and recover from them. Problems will not disappear unless you take action. Do what you can, when you can, and acknowledge what you’ve done. It’s all about taking baby steps in the right direction, inch by inch. These inches count, they add up to yards and miles in the long run.
Start helping those around you. – Care about people. Guide them if you know a better way. The more you help others, the more they will want to help you. Love and kindness begets love and kindness. And so on and so forth.
Start listening to your own inner voice. – If it helps, discuss your ideas with those closest to you, but give yourself enough room to follow your own intuition. Be true to yourself. Say what you need to say. Do what you know in your heart is right.
Start being attentive to your stress level and take short breaks. – Slow down. Breathe. Give yourself permission to pause, regroup and move forward with clarity and purpose. When you’re at your busiest, a brief recess can rejuvenate your mind and increase your productivity. These short breaks will help you regain your sanity and reflect on your recent actions so you can be sure they’re in line with your goals.
Start noticing the beauty of small moments. – Instead of waiting for the big things to happen – marriage, kids, big promotion, winning the lottery – find happiness in the small things that happen every day. Little things like having a quiet cup of coffee in the early morning, or the delicious taste and smell of a homemade meal, or the pleasure of sharing something you enjoy with someone else, or holding hands with your partner. Noticing these small pleasures on a daily basis makes a big difference in the quality of your life.
Start accepting things when they are less than perfect. – Remember, ‘perfect’ is the enemy of ‘good.’ One of the biggest challenges for people who want to improve themselves and improve the world is learning to accept things as they are. Sometimes it’s better to accept and appreciate the world as it is, and people as they are, rather than to trying to make everything and everyone conform to an impossible ideal. No, you shouldn’t accept a life of mediocrity, but learn to love and value things when they are less than perfect.Start working toward your goals every single day. – Remember, Life is a Journey each moment counts not a destination.
Many More Easy to do perceptual shift to make the most of Mother Nature having her say ! in this link.. written by boy/girl team Marc and Angel Blog