Most students and employees went to bed Wednesday night with the sound of wind whipping through the trees and memories of Hurricane Fran's destruction swirling through their minds. But when they awoke in the morning, the rains had stopped and, even more miraculously, the sun was shining.
"Where's the hurricane?" demanded more than one student wandering the quad in search of evidence. In the end, Floyd produced more fear than fire, more policy declarations than damage.
Buses began running on their normal schedules early in the morning, and all the major campus dining establishments stayed on or near their usual schedule.
"When I went to bed last night at 10 or 11, they were still saying that central North Carolina was going to be hit hard," said Provost Peter Lange, who decided Wednesday that yesterday's classes would not be held. "I don't know what [the storm] did last night, but it certainly did something."
Although Thursday proved anticlimactic after a week of ominous weather reports, students and administrators agreed that halting classes in advance was the right action to take.
"Given the information that the administration had, it would seem they made the right move," said Trinity senior Amir Rashid-Farokhi, who is also Duke Student Government's residential life liaison. "You can't predict where the hurricane is going to go. I applaud them for their decision."
Rashid-Farokhi said he heard about the cancellation through word of mouth and then later through official e-mails from resident advisers and the Office of Student Development. "All the right mechanisms were used to make sure students knew," he said.
Although many students ventured out in the height of the storm to participate in a bit of mudsliding or attend hurricane parties, many said they were safely inside when the winds really picked up.
"I slept through the whole thing," said Trinity junior Starynee Adams, who said students deserved the day off because classes were held on Labor Day.
But the provost was quick to announce that the impromptu holiday is over. When asked whether classes were on for Friday, Lange responded without hesitation: "Oh yeah, no question."
He added that he will be "doing some consulting" on the feasibility of having students make up the missed classes. "It's a little complicated, but we'll see what we can do," he said.
Most students said the hurricane proved a social occasion, with groups of friends gathering together to pass the time and enjoy the respite from nagging homework deadlines.
Still, Barbara Baker, dean of student development and residential education, said, "From the information I have at this point, my sense is that students behaved very appropriately for the most part."
But the hurricane was anything but a holiday for many members of the University community.
"We've been pumping water all night long, out of the steam plant and out of here," said Roger Jeffries, a steamfitter for Facilities Management who was working Thursday morning to pump water from the steam tunnels running between East and West campuses.
He and his crew had been working since 8 a.m. the morning before, responding to flooding calls in public buildings like the Bryan Center and Social Sciences Building and in residence halls-including Round Table and Gilbert-Addoms dormitories.
"All this rain shows you a whole bunch of [leaks] you don't normally have," Jeffries said.
John Duncan, facility manager for West II housing, said that about eight members of his staff stayed on campus overnight to respond to problems, and about 35 Facilities Management employees also remained on hand throughout the storm.
Such precautions were necessary given the magnitude of the storm, Duncan said. "If we had gotten a real hit, there's no telling how much water we would have taken in."
Maj. Robert Dean of the Duke University Police Department said the storm caused only minimal damage. One tree apparently fell down in Edens Quadrangle, and a few other limbs were strewn by the storm, but Dean said there was no structural damage to University buildings.
"We are very fortunate that this storm did not hit us directly," Dean said. He added that students should still be careful of tree limbs weakened during the storm.
No storm-related ailments or injuries came into Duke Hospital's emergency department, said Karen Hines of the Medical Center News Office.
She added that the Medical Center's emergency plan had been successfully and smoothly implemented.
"Employees pulled together to really make things as comfortable as possible for patients and their families," she said.
In all, administrators said they prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, a model that served them well.
"I think we did the prudent thing," Lange said. "And then we got lucky."
Richard Rubin and Rami Zheman contributed to this story.
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