Berry College is a StormReady campus, but what does that mean?
Lauren Fiorillo, COM 250 Reporter
It has been storming for days, the campus looks distraught, yet everything is running smoothly. Berry College is a storm ready campus and always prepared for anything that comes its way.
Being storm ready is about being prepared for a community’s vulnerability against severe weather.
“The StormReady program helps arm America’s communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property–before, during and after the event,” Gary Will, Berry’s Assistant Vice President of Campus Safety and Emergency Preparedness commented via an email interview.
According to the National Weather Service, there are six requirements that must be fulfilled for a college or university to be considered StormReady. There must be a communication center that is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On Berry’s campus, this is the Welcome Center.
Next, the communication center must have at least four ways of receiving weather warnings, three ways to continuously monitor the local weather, and three ways of alerting the campus of severe weather warnings. The college must also have procedures in place for residents to follow in the event that there is severe weather.
Lastly the college must adhere to administrative criteria which include: having National Weather Service staff visit the campus annually, train patrol officers to be Storm Spotters and develop a Hazardous Weather Operations plan.
Berry College is ready for “any extreme weather,” Will said. “The Outdoor Emergency Notification System (sirens) is tested every first Friday of the month at 11:55 a.m.”
Students feel reassured and safe knowing that their home away from home is prepared to handle disaster.
“There’s even a sign at the front entrance of campus that publicly says Berry College is StormReady,” said SGA President, Teddy Palmer.
Mark Hopkins, Director of the Physical Plant at Berry College, said via email the precautions that the physical plant must take to ensure that they are prepared for storms. All equipment is to be full of oil and gas, chain saws sharpened, and tires properly inflated. Gravel and snow melt are stocked in advance since they are hard to come by once it snows and the college does not own any snow plows. The Physical Plant does not own any storm specific equipment but will use whatever they have to push snow; a skid steer, ditch witch, back hoe, or tractors. The biggest priority after a storm hits the campus is to make sure the roads are clear in case emergency vehicles are needed.
“The most vulnerable thing during any storm is electricity,” Hopkins said.
Georgia Power operates Berry College’s power from its generating plants, but Berry also has its own back up generators. There are backup generators on almost all of Berry’s “priority” buildings. The Welcome Center has one because that is the college’s main source of information during an emergency. Herman Hall, Memorial Library, and MaCallister Science also each have their own generators. However, due to the colleges limited funding, the dining hall does not have its own backup generator.
“So what is the most important building during a storm, when the power is off,” Hopkins asks. “Maybe the only place we have to eat. That’s right. Krannert. Guess what? No generator. Why? You guessed it. Funding.”