Hurricane Irene left several trees and branches downed around campus. This tree, which once stood in front of the Norman F. Lechter building was removed by the campus clean-up crew.

By Joe Moyles

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene,  all campus activities were canceled for the last weekend of August. This also included the very first day of classes which were scheduled to start on Aug. 29.

The make-up date for this class has been re-scheduled for Dec. 21. The C0llege released a campus brief regarding this cancellation of classes.

“With cancelled classes. It was, however, the absolutely correct decision,” stated James E. Sherwood, the Executive Dean of The Ammerman Campus.

Hurricane Irene wreaked havoc all along the east coast, and in some places did severe damage. The calls and texts from the College emergency alert system announced the closing of campuses on Friday, Aug. 26.

College President Shaun L. McKay made this decision based off of news briefings from the state and county emergency management teams and steady tracking of the storm’s progress. Even with an extra day to help with the clean-up of the campuses, it was still a huge amount of work and took a bit of extra support.

The speedy communication within theCollege allowed for the early cancellation of classes which gave the campus ample opportunity to create a safe environment for classes to resume Tuesday.

With the first day of classes known as ‘syllabus day’ cancelled, classes had to be pushed back one day later to Tuesday, Aug. 30. Although this may not seem like it would present much of a problem for the college’s professors, schedules had to be adjusted to best fit the new schedule for the semester. With the new class make-up dated added, professors have aligned their schedules to best help the students, and everyone has been informed. The students themselves have had varying opinions on the class cancellation as well.

“It’s nice having school off, but seriously, half the island had no power, and people were stuck at their houses,” said Sophomore Grace Wichrowski. “Tons of people were not making it to school that day,” she said.
Some students weren’t affected by the storm. Some feel they could have made it to class on Monday.

“Suffolk classes are always cancelled and seems like it can be an inconvenience for students” said Sopomore Matt Cohen of Islip Terrace.

“The cancellation had to happen” said Sohomore Frank Hayward, who lost power for four days due to the storm.

Student’s reactions certainly suggested that for many, Monday would have been a difficult day to make it to class.

Clean up crews worked about 400 hours on the Ammerman campus removing fallen trees and branches.

By Taylor Baker

As of Sunday Aug. 28 Long Island braced for Hurricane Irene and so did The College. This was one of the worst Hurricanes the East Coast had seen in a while. After the storm cleanup efforts were underway.

“I called a meeting of the College’s emergency response team to discuss the College’s preparation for this storm. Topic areas we discussed included communications, staffing in the areas of public safety and plant operations in the event of a loss of utilities. Please be assured that the College will base its decisions during this period on what it considers to be in the best interest of protecting the safety of our students, faculty and staff,” said  College President Dr. Shaun L. McKay in a brief dissemenated through the College email system.

Two days later on Aug. 27 McKay sent another email.

“As Hurricane Irene has continued its track northward, and the College has been closely monitoring the storm’s progress… I have made the decision to cancel the first day of classes on Monday, Aug. 29. I believe cancelling classes on Monday will enable our plant operations staff to clean up our campuses following the storm and will also provide our students and staff with the increased ability to reach our campuses safely when classes resume,” he said.

Irene hit Sunday, Aug. 28, causing high winds, fallen trees, and damage to structures, and a lot of power outages. The College physical plant and maintenance crews  with the assistance of an outside tree removal company did the clean up for the Ammerman Campus.

“We were very fortunate no damage [was] done to any of the buildings. Just a number of trees fell–eight large trees and numerous branches and leaves,” said Ammerman Campus Plant Operations Director Ed Benz . “We had one tree fall on the NFL Building with minimal damage, ” he said.

Eight staff members were on the Ammerman campus on Sunday and Monday with a sufficient amount of vehicles, which was a full staff. Nine staff member stayed for overtime as the clean up continued into Tuesday and Wednesday. The crews spent approximately 400 hours on clean up all together.

The crews didn’t have to wait for LIPA to fix the lines before working on any trees because as  Benz said, “The Ammerman Campus never lost power. We were very fortunate. Again, most of the trees fell on the roadways or in areas where no damage occurred.”

With power outages on the minds of students, they were pleased with the school’s response to the storm’s clean up, as well as the fact that they had no classes on that Monday.

“I was very happy with how the school acted. It would have been difficult for people to park on Tuesday with tree limbs in parking spots; it’s hard enough trying to get a spot in the first place. I was also happy to hear they closed the school Monday,” said Doug Baum who is in his fourth semester at the College.

In a later email on Monday Aug. 29 McKay stated Long Island had a date with Irene. What a way to begin the semester, with cancelled classes… that was the absolutely correct decision. The brief mentioned that McKay extended the College’s thanks to the men and women from various College departments who worked all weekend to keep the college up and running.

By Alexander Corrigan
 


Topical storm Irene blew into New York with an unparalleled fury, making landfall around 9 a.m. on Aug. 28 and causing billions of dollars worth of damage. 



The damage caused by the storm is monumental, an estimated $10 billion in the United States, including nearly one billion in damages here in New York state alone. The scene was something from a disaster movie; there were toppled trees, downed power lines, crushed houses and completely destroyed automobiles littering the streets. The flooding was enough to have small cars float away and made the roads only suitable for kayaks and jet-skis as a means of transportation. A reported 400,000 power outages on Long Island, left roughly 500,000 people and whole towns without power. In some instances the damages were irreparable, like cars pinned and crushed by 60-70 foot tall oak and maple trees. 
 


The moments that lead up to the storm were equally as chaotic on Long Island. Lines at the gas stations spilled into the streets, the gas stations that still had gas that is. The supermarkets were overcrowded with doomsday revelers spending their final moments procuring as many canned goods and ready to eat meals as their shopping carts could manage to fit. The picture painted by and for Long Island residents resembled something from a Michael Bay movie where the destruction of the earth wasn’t merely a question but was basically assured. This is how Irene greeted Long Island. 


The aftermath was severe, but nothing the resolve of New Yorkers couldn’t overcome. One troubling fact was the power, Long Island became crippled by Irene and her path of destruction, and then we were left in the dark. 
 


In times of emergency Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) hires recent retirees to help increase man power and manage the destruction. Islip resident Arthur Lawton received this call a few days before Irene was expected to make landfall. He was told to report to the Uniondale Marriott, which is where he was based, to receive his instructions and meet his team. His instructions were simple, follow basic emergency protocol and act fast to repair the most affected areas on Long Island. The task at hand was quite daunting, considering the large scale of power outages and the excessive damage. This task was further complicated on the Monday following the storm as the winds were still whipping too hard. With the weather still too dangerous for LIPA employees to be suspended 50 feet in the air in a Cherry-picker (a work vehicle with a hydraulic arm and bucket) or hanging from a power line, the crews and their leaders sat in the Uniondale Marriott waiting for their orders. 
 


Even Suffolk Community College did its part to help the storm effort; college president Dr. Shaun McKay opened the Brentwood campus to set up a temporary shelter for the hundreds of LIPA and National Grid employees. Dr. McKay opened the campus in an attempt to help the community regain power.

“We believe our effort will help support everyone’s goal of returning power to Suffolk’s neighborhoods and restoring a sense of normalcy in the lives of our residents,” said McKay. Suffolk County Legislature presiding officer William J. Lindsay added, “This is yet another excellent example of what an essential part of our community the college is.”
 


In the immediate aftermath of the storm local authorities’ main objective was to clear the roadways of downed trees and other debris. Again to further complicate the clean up nothing could be cleared until LIPA deemed it was not dangerous and had not affected the power lines. This further slowed LIPA’s response time and left thousands of Long Islanders with out power for longer. 
 


Unfortunately the vast majority of Long Islanders did not share these sentiments. Many residents especially in hard hit areas like Smithtown, St. James and Port Jefferson were left without power for several days. St. James resident Thomas Hernandez claims to have a generator running “Non-stop for four days” just to power up a refrigerator and lamp. SCCC student and Nesconset resident Jack Massaro lost power for two days and had a flooded basement, but no power to pump out the water or turn on fans to dry his basement apartment. 
 


In a poll conducted on campus the vast majority of students claimed that LIPA did not do enough, fast enough in response to the storm. As a result LIPA’s board of trustees has called for a vote to restructure the utility company and their future. In the upcoming weeks there will be a number of town hall and trustee meetings, some open to the public, to discuss their missteps and to discuss the future of the company.

More than 40 pets from throughout the county found refuge on the Eastern campus during Hurricane Irene.

By Eric Santucci
RIVERHEAD- Dozens of pets were sheltered and cared for on Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Eastern Campus of Suffolk Community College during Hurricane Irene.

In the wake of the tropical storm that hammered away at the East Coast Riverhead residents avoided potential disaster by moving themselves and their pets into one of several buildings at the Eastern Riverhead Campus.

“Over 40 pets including; cats, dogs, birds, and hamsters were sheltered on the campus during the storm,” said Professor Marilyn McCall whose classroom was used to shelter the animals. She went on to state that all the pets had been cleared out by Monday morning.

McCall’s classroom, as well as the rest of the Woodlands Art Studio was used as the basis for the pet shelter itself. “The decision was made to use the art studio by administration because of the fact it was a free standing building and would not have an impact on other classrooms when filled with animals,” McCall explained.

While the 40 pets were being sheltered in the art studio, about 100 to 120 people, including many of the pet owners hunkered down at the nearby Peconic building on campus. Many of the pet owners cared for their respective pets during the hurricane.

In both buildings, Suffolk SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) representatives assisted in the containment of the pets during the worst parts of the hurricane as well as overseeing and administrating the pet shelter itself. In addition, the SPCA supplied various supplies to the shelter, including the crates that the pets were held in.

According to a related news article by the Riverhead News Review the SPCA’s Chief Roy Gross stated that those sheltering pets at the campus were required to wear an arm band with the pet’s name and a specific identification number in the event that the pets were separated from the owners during the storm for any reason.

Suffolk SPCA Operations Chief Stephen G. Laton stated that local Riverhead residents initially found out about the pet and human shelters at the campus through local news as well as the Suffolk County Emergency Operations Center.

“Pet owners cared for the animals themselves while we (SPCA) supplied crates for them. There were no complications with the pets or damage to the shelter,” Laton said.

By Tuesday, when classes officially started, the pets and owners had left the shelter with little to no complication. The maintenance staff at the college had cleaned the art studio by the time classes had taken place in the building. The pet shelter did not damage or affect any of the artwork or materials being housed within the studio.

The Suffolk SPCA is a nonprofit law enforcement agency located in Smithtown. Aside from establishing animal-friendly shelters the SPCA also provides veterinary and medical care to animals and enforces regular animal protection and anti-animal cruelty laws.

The Suffolk County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), one of the ways that residents found out about the shelter, is located in Yaphank. The center initiates regular storm watches and relays information about hurricanes and tropical storms to county residents and provides them with vital information. In the event of a more serious storm, they would also issue evacuation announcements if necessary.

The Suffolk County SPCA can be contacted at (631)-382-7722 and is located on 363 Route 111 Smithtown, NY. Its website, suffolkspca.org also provides more information on animal protection and adoption, as well as donations.

By Jessica Radesco-Verdi

Hurricane Irene was more than an imposition to many Long Islanders. More than 270,000 Suffolk County residents were without power more than four days after she blew through. For some it was challenging–even life-threatening.

Flooding and damage from Hurricane Irene left many faculty members without power for as many as seven days. This picture shows flooding in Patchogue.

Hurricane Irene though expected to be at least a category one Hurricane was in actuality a Tropical Storm when it struck Long Island, but still created devastation and havoc on many towns. Patchogue residents were flooded with up to four feet of water. The Hamptons took quite a hit with downed power lines and fallen trees, while Riverhead High School was used as a shelter for many of the Patchogue residents evacuated from their homes.

The Ammerman campus is comprised of students from many parts of Suffolk and during the first week of classes there was plenty of buzz of pre or post Irene stories. Some students live in towns that weren’t affected by the storm and therefore aside from watching the news or reading Newsday might not even have been aware of the dreadful time others were experiencing. But being on campus has allowed students to hear firsthand accounts of what those few hours or even days have been like for them.

Amongst those affected was English Professor Leanne Warshauer of Commack. She, her husband, 6 year-old twins and one dog had been without power from Saturday night until Wednesday afternoon and briefly lost power two more times thereafter. Though she did a lot of candlelight reading and spent time with friends in her neighborhood, when asked what her biggest challenge was in caring for two small children with no power for four days she replied,

“I think the kids coped better than my husband and I did. At first I was worried about keeping them occupied all day, but they didn’t miss television and computers as much as I thought they would.”

Warshauer hadn’t spoken to LIPA until the day they fixed the lines on her block and while she admits coping with cold showers was not fun, she has no complaints about how they handled the storm.

In areas where neighborhoods were without power, residents pitched in and helped each other out with meals and entertaining the kids. She spent extra hours at the college to catch up on professional obligations and relied on her car to keep cell phones charged.

Warshauer stated, “These experiences bring out the best and the worst in people. I’m lucky to be surrounded by so many caring people-my colleagues, my friends, my family-everyone offered to help.”

The same sense of unity was also true for College Associate Dean Bernadette Garcia of the Grant Campus, who also was without power for five days. In the Village of Stony Brook, Garcia’s block was the only block with power loss; the surrounding neighborhood did have power.

“It was frustrating to come home and see lights on and turn down my block which was dark” says Garcia who tried to contact LIPA but to no avail.

Ironically their land line phone was still functioning but their cell phones had to be charged in her car. She managed to keep up with work and correspondence at friends’ houses using their computers until Tuesday when school was reopened. Entertainment during that time mainly consisted of grilling or eating out, visiting friends, sitting by flashlight or lantern making phone calls and going to sleep much earlier than usual.

When asked what the most difficult part of her experience was she responded like Warshauer, “the brutal COLD showers” admitting that aside from that they managed pretty well. Garcia did state she doesn’t understand the rush to the supermarkets to “stock up”; saying most people she knew had to throw everything out after having done so. But most of all, she was surprised at how well they were able to manage without the power.

Garcia acknowledges, “We sat outside more; the kids in the neighborhood were outside on their bikes and playing longer. We didn’t need to unwind with the TV, but I did miss being able to read before bed.”

Others weren’t as fortunate as we have read and watched on TV, as the Nassau man who called in a bomb threat to get power turned back on for his ailing grandmother who he claims was ‘dying of heat’ or residents who came back to homes that were no longer standing.

Either way whether Irene was nothing more than a nuisance for some or a true natural disaster for others, it gave plenty to think about for all of us.