UC Weathers the Great Windstorm of 2008

Like the rest of Greater Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati community suffered adverse effects from Sunday’s unexpectedly severe windstorm. Thanks to the efforts of many personnel here at UC, things were rapidly returning to normal by midweek – just in time to beat the arrival of the students and their families who will be participating in Move-In Days on Thursday and Friday.

Power outages continue to plague many across the area. UC’s Uptown campuses never lost power, but as of midday Wednesday, power had yet to be restored to the College of Applied Science location on Victory Parkway. 

Earlier in the week, other locations that were without power for extended periods included Raymond Walters College, UC-Clermont and the Center Hill Research Facility.

"The Uptown campuses seemed to ride this out pretty well," said Capt. Jeff Corcoran, UC’s director of Emergency Services. "The branch campuses had a more difficult time."

Corcoran points out that, ironically, the storm arrived in the middle of National Preparedness Month.

Rick Wiggins, associate vice president and director, Facilities Management, reports that about 30 trees were damaged on the Uptown West campus by the wind. Lots of smaller branches and other debris were blown loose, creating a major clean-up job that is involving 30 Facilities Management personnel working across campus.

"We had some minor roof damage, but no breaches," Wiggins said. "The biggest impact is on the campus grounds. It’s a struggle that is sort of like when we have a snowstorm. We work longer hours. We had people in here right away on Sunday after the storm, and we’ll be here until this job is done."

Many of those Facilities Management employees, like most other UC employees, also have issues of their own to deal with at home involving lack of electricity or cleaning up debris.

"They are a very dedicated group," Wiggins says. "They are hard workers and really live for UC. I can’t say enough good things about them."

The storm did not adversely affect operations in UC's central IT systems.

"UC was fortunate in that we never lost power completely for an extended period of time," says Fred Siff, vice president and UC's chief information officer. "Our data center absorbed several power blips, but these were smoothly covered by our (uninterruptible power supply) system, so that there was neither interruption in services nor damage suffered."

In meeting one of the needs for the campus community created by the storm, both the Campus Recreation Center and University Fitness are opening their doors to those who present a UC photo ID so that they can access those facilities’ showers. For more details on this offer, visit the Campus Recreation Center Web page.

Finally, Hoxworth Blood Center has been negatively impacted in its collection efforts in the aftermath of the storm, and now has a critical need for blood, particularly that from donors with O positive and O negative blood.

To schedule an appointment with Hoxworth, go to the Hoxworth Web site.