2008 Woodie Awards
Salve Recovers from the Blizzard of '05
Chelse Melina
Issue date: 1/26/05 Section: News
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Preparing for a snow storm is hectic. Whether preparing for a "house" of three or four, or for a "house" of approximately 1,200, such as the Salve Regina University campus in Newport, Rhode Island, there are a number of things to consider:
Will there be enough food to eat if the snow prohibits traveling? What if the power lines are iced or blown down and there is no heat? What if someone is hurt and needs to go to the hospital during the heart of the storm? And where on earth is all the snow supposed to go once the storm has stopped and snow removal becomes an issue?
Salve was in good hands during what has been named the "Blizzard of '05," by NBC10 WJAR. With a few days notice of the storm that was headed towards New England, numerous Salve offices and departments had the opportunity to get together to discuss accommodations, emergency evacuation routes and plans for the blizzard.
John Mixter, Director of Security for Salve, stayed tuned to local weather channels and stayed in close communication with the Town of Newport's City Officials and with Salve's grounds crew in order to keep Salve students safe during the storm and in order to best facilitate the campus in the aftermath of the storm with snow removal.
"With the help of the grounds crew, we were able to keep all of the students safe," Mixter said. "There were no serious incidents, what-so-ever."
According to Mixter, the Salve campus got approximately 22 inches of snow which made it very difficult to move around campus. In fact, Salve's off -campus shuttle service was suspended on Saturday.
However, Salve security was very apprehensive about students walking to and from different buildings on-campus, so two of the on-campus shuttles were in operation up until 9 p.m., after which it was considered too dangerous to drive on the roads.
Mixter explained that it was very important that students had means of getting to and from Miley Cafeteria to eat; otherwise, students were encouraged to stay put in their dorms until the storm had passed.