Despite forecasts of severe weather conditions, the Duke University Marine Lab was unscathed this weekend after a brief encounter with Hurricane Earl.
Cindy Van Dover, director of the Marine Lab, issued a mandatory evacuation of all residents at the Beaufort campus in preparation for Earl in an e-mail Thursday morning. At that time, the National Weather Service reported that the storm was a Category 4 hurricane. Although the lab was prepared for the worst, the campus was in perfect condition Friday morning, Van Dover wrote in an e-mail Friday.
“We were delighted to return to the island at first light and find everything secure,” she wrote. “I don’t believe there was even a power outage.”
At the time of the evacuation, the weather service reported that the eye of the hurricane would hit North Carolina’s coastline late Thursday afternoon. Although Pivers Island—on which the Beaufort campus is located— was not under government evacuation, Marine Lab officials evacuated the campus as an extra precaution.
During the evacuation, many students returned to the Durham campus, said junior Keya Kuruvilla, who is currently studying at the Beaufort campus. Because the evacuation occurred so early in the semester, Kuruvilla said her workload was not affected.
“Most people went back to Duke—I stayed with some friends on Central,” Kuruvilla said. “[Leaving Beaufort] wasn’t too bad because it was the first weekend of school so there wasn’t too much work. And Tailgate was going on, so it was actually kind of fun.”
Like Kuruvilla, junior Perry Blank saw the evacuation as an excuse to return to the main campus and visit friends.
“For me it was not a big deal, I was excited to see my friends for another day,” Blank said. “It’s seriously just a regular weekend. We only really missed one day of classes and everything seems to be back to normal.”
Kuruvilla said that at the lab, evacuating is generally an uneventful procedure.
“We were just sent an e-mail and they handed out evacuation forms at the cafeteria,” Kuruvilla said. “There’s really not too much regulation—you just sign a form and tell them who you’re staying with and who you’re driving there with.”
Blank said it was relatively easy to adjust her plans despite the hurricane-induced changes to her schedule. For Blank, leaving the campus to drive to Durham took little preparation.
“They just made us unplug everything that was plugged in,” she said. “I just packed everything I needed for the weekend.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.