As Hurricane Florence prepares to tear through the East Coast this week, AU administrators say they are monitoring the storm’s progress and preparing the campus to deal with the hurricane’s potential impact.
Doug Kudravetz, AU’s chief financial officer, sent a memo to students Tuesday instructing students to sign up for AU Alerts to receive updates on how the storm might affect the University’s operations. The memo comes after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency in the nation’s capital Tuesday morning following similar announcements from the governors of Virginia and Maryland.
“While it is not certain when and where [the hurricane] will make landfall and what its effect may be, we are focused on the safety and well-being of the AU community, and we will adjust schedules and operations as needed,” Kudravetz wrote.
The storm is currently forecasted to hit the Carolinas on Thursday as a Category 3 hurricane and could lead to excessive rainfall in Virginia, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, but the worst of the rainfall is expected to remain south of the District.
Administrators currently expect the University to be open this week “for general operations, classes and scheduled events,” Kudravetz added.
“However, that may change, and campus officials will communicate changes as necessary,” he wrote. “We will continue to closely monitor Hurricane Florence and will make decisions about university operations based on the severity of the storm and its impact to our university.”
AU’s facilities staff will continue to work through the week and are in the process of “preparing buildings and systems” for the storm, Kudravetz said.
