Duke students watched with curious unease from 700 miles away as Hurricane Frances slowly invaded the Florida coast. But for those who call Florida home, the satellite pictures of the storm invoked a more personal reaction: concern for their family and friends.
“I was pretty nervous,” said sophomore Sasha Chediak, a resident of Boca Raton, Fla. “A lot of my family came [to Durham to evacuate]. We were just waiting and seeing what would happen.”
Hoping to allay the anxieties of students like Chediak, Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, sent an e-mail to the Duke community describing a variety of counseling options created to service those apprehensive about the storm. He received a number of appreciative responses, though Counseling and Psychological Services did not report an increase in the number of visitors.
“I thought it was nice they were reaching out in case someone had no one to talk to about the storm,” said senior Lauren Lind, a Vero Beach, Fla., native, whose home is only 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean coast. “I only talked to my parents and friends, but it was good that [the University] reached out,” noted Lind, who works in The Chronicle’s advertising office.
Ironically, Hurricane Charley, which landed in Florida just weeks before, brought comfort to students watching Frances crawl toward their homes.
“I had been through Charley so I knew what it would be like,” said Ed Chu, a junior from Winter Park, Fla., a suburb of Orlando. “It was chaotic, but it wasn’t... so bad.”
Chu said the residents of Winter Park faced significant damage after Charley hit because of a lack of preparation before the storm. For Frances, he said, the whole city mobilized to minimize the expected damage.
His mother, Malee Chu, waited in line at The Home Depot for five hours to buy plywood to protect her home’s windows. “Each person was only allowed to buy 10 pieces, which wasn’t enough,” she said. “Then it was tough finding nails. But it was better than doing nothing like we did for Charley.”
Ed Chu said he wished he was home in Florida for Frances, not only to help comfort his family during the storm, but also to be a part of the clean-up process. After Charley, many of his friends worked together cleaning and repairing their neighborhood. Chu expects they are doing the same now.
“Everyone’s outside cutting branches,” Chu said. “All of my friends are back there. They all live really close. Seeing Frances made me want to be there.”
His mother, however, said she was glad he was safe in North Carolina.
Malee Chu, who has lived through numerous hurricanes in Florida and typhoons in her native Taiwan, also said with each storm she learns a little bit more about how to neutralize damage. For example, after watching the rain from Frances dangerously pool in her backyard, she has decided that flood insurance is a good investment.
The Chus have also found that stocking up on food is not as logical a measure as they once thought.
“Don’t buy anything from the supermarket,” Malee Chu warned. “We had to throw everything away because the power was out for five or six days after Charley.”
She lamented the waste of food even more, she said, when the supermarket opened its doors to customers not long after both hurricanes.
Malee Chu felt government responses to Frances were quicker and more effective than they were when Charley hit. Charley’s wind and rain left Winter Park without power for a week; after Frances, electricity was restored after one day.
Though Frances is gone, the newly formed Hurricane Ivan—which slammed Grenada Wednesday—has given Floridians a new reason to worry. University officials are again showing concern for students from the Sunshine State.
“Right now I’m monitoring a new hurricane,” Moneta said. “We’re hoping it’s not a three-peat.”
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