The day after the storm
I think we got some good vid downtown as well as on campus. We being Bryan. He shot most of the video and I just played reporter. I choose to edit together a package on Marvin Hall, the building that houses the School of Architecture and Urban Design. I posted it to the TV web site, along with the images Jay took. since the Oracle DB was down and we had no site.
Will Schneck, a senior architecture student (pictured above) lost most of his work when a roof flew through the window and landed on his desk. Click on the image to watch the vid (QuickTime 6.9 MB)
I actually woke up early Sunday morning. I planned on heating some Grands sweet-orange rolls, heading to the gym and then spending at least four hours at Watson Library.
The weather had other plans…
As the thunder gently rolled outside, I went to the kitchen and proceeded to check the status of the pre-heated oven. Not five minutes later, the electricity went out. Damn. So much for the sweet rolls and coffee. Instead, we decided to go downtown for breakfast. After a quick shower, I peered out the window and saw the wind suddenly pick up. Instantly, I wished for a video camera. The only thing readily available was my cell phone, and it doesn’t do video. Damn. As we watched the wind blow three small pine trees completely parallel to the ground, the emergency sirens began to scream. Oh great, no basement. Damn again.
About 15 minutes later, the coast seemed clear enough to head downtown. We were amazed to see so many people out at 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. There was actually a bit of a line at Z’s and more people piled in after us. We got out coffee and sweets to go and began walking south on Mass. St. The first thing we saw were US Bank’s revolving doors. The glass had been shattered where part of a roof and smashed through the door. We couldn’t believe it. Again, wished I had a video camera, or my cell phone, for that matter. I had left it at home in the rush to get downtown. We kept walking.
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All-in-all, I spent about 16 hours covering the storm. I should’ve been working on my damn thesis, but who can do research when their town looks like this?
Milton’s was closed. How could Milton’s be closed?
The sign outside Jimmy John’s was gone. An employee was up on a laddar fiddling with it, but he kept looking nervously up at the sky.
The Reply Lounge was probably hit the hardest. Its two huge front windows were gone. It looked like one of those open-air bars you see in Hawaii. Glass was everywhere. I decided it was time to find Adam. Since I didn’t have my cell phone, I didn’t have his phone number, so we had to drive down to his house. He was just walking out his front door. His car and Jimmy’s were buried under trees.
Adam was heading downtown to meet a reporter from KTKA. I got Audrey’s number from him and gave her a call…. voice mail.
I decided it was time to action myself. We had to drive up to Dole to check on the servers anyway…
The Computer Center looked like it had been hit pretty hard, the power was out in Dole, and I assumed across campus. I grabed an XL and one of the small Canon cameras, a mic stick and a handful of DV tapes and we were off.
