A Wild Start to the School Year
September 16, 2011
After experiencing a hurricane, earthquake (with a few aftershocks), and sizeable flooding in the span of three weeks, a student may be asking him or herself, “What’s next?”
PG County and Flowers students are currently in the middle of their first full week of school – three weeks behind schedule. Some students and schools were without power, suffered structural damage through their homes or were in some cases even injured by this month’s calamitous weather.
It all started on the second day of the school year, August 23. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered near Richmond, Virginia was felt as far north as Toronto and Ontario, Canada, and as far west as Chicago, Illinois. The earthquake was especially traumatizing for those of us in this area, as we rarely get earthquakes.
The school had an emergency evacuation during 4th period due to the earthquake. As this happened on a Tuesday afternoon, several schools were closed for inspection for the next two consecutive days. When classes resumed on Friday, those who left belongings in classrooms were able to return and retrieve their things.
If the ground shaking under you wasn’t bad enough, that same weekend, Hurricane Irene rained terror over the east coast. It rained all Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, which led to severe flooding. In addition to uncharacteristically high rainfall, thunderstorms and lightning that went with them cut off the power in majority of the East Coast, knocked down cell phone towers, and brought down trees around the area.
Maryland went into a preparatory state of emergency that Thursday after seeing the extent of Irene’s damage across the southeast. The unveiling ceremony of the Martin Luther King Jr. monument in Washington was postponed (it’s now set for October 16th) because of this natural disaster.
We missed one day, the following Monday, because of Irene but its impact was felt in the way of lost power in student and faculty homes. Here’s hoping that teachers and students can go another three weeks without catastrophic weather.
PG County and Flowers students are currently in the middle of their first full week of school – three weeks behind schedule. Some students and schools were without power, suffered structural damage through their homes or were in some cases even injured by this month’s calamitous weather.
It all started on the second day of the school year, August 23. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered near Richmond, Virginia was felt as far north as Toronto and Ontario, Canada, and as far west as Chicago, Illinois. The earthquake was especially traumatizing for those of us in this area, as we rarely get earthquakes.
The school had an emergency evacuation during 4th period due to the earthquake. As this happened on a Tuesday afternoon, several schools were closed for inspection for the next two consecutive days. When classes resumed on Friday, those who left belongings in classrooms were able to return and retrieve their things.
If the ground shaking under you wasn’t bad enough, that same weekend, Hurricane Irene rained terror over the east coast. It rained all Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, which led to severe flooding. In addition to uncharacteristically high rainfall, thunderstorms and lightning that went with them cut off the power in majority of the East Coast, knocked down cell phone towers, and brought down trees around the area.
Maryland went into a preparatory state of emergency that Thursday after seeing the extent of Irene’s damage across the southeast. The unveiling ceremony of the Martin Luther King Jr. monument in Washington was postponed (it’s now set for October 16th) because of this natural disaster.
We missed one day, the following Monday, because of Irene but its impact was felt in the way of lost power in student and faculty homes. Here’s hoping that teachers and students can go another three weeks without catastrophic weather.
