Feb. 4 California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that eight Southern California counties were in a state of emergency as a result of incoming storms, according to the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper outlet said the storm started Sunday afternoon, and is expected to last through Tuesday — potentially dropping at least eight inches of rain along the coast in LA.
Rachael Warecki, the Director of Communications at Occidental, said that the college sent two emails since the beginning of the storm to the entire campus community, in order to alert students and faculty about safety measures. According to Warecki, Occidental’s Emergency Response team, which is composed of staff members across college departments, worked together to send two emails outlining emergency response.
“The messages are part of emergency preparedness, and focusing on community safety, making sure that our community is aware of the impending storm, and what resources are available in case of the instances mentioned in those community messages, such as flooding and other things that might occur on campus,” Warecki said.
According to Warecki, the Emergency Response team’s messages are important because they communicate how to report information in the instance of an emergency due to the storms. In addition to the emails sent, the college’s Emergency Blog has been updated with information about maintaining campus safety during the storms.
Molly Malin (first year) has experienced the impact of the storm, having half of her classes canceled on Monday due to professors staying home to avoid commuting in the weather, she said.
“I don’t mind, but it definitely is throwing a wrench in my plans,” Malin said. “I’ve been trying to minimize moving around on campus, because I live in Braun [Hall], and walking up the AGC stairs is a bit of a lake right now.”
Malin said she doesn’t feel unsafe on campus, but that the enormity of the storms shows how Occidental was not designed for rain. According to Malin, she has had to make an effort to schedule meeting spots with friends around campus, in order to avoid being outside in the wind and rain for too long.
“One of my friends who lives in the same hall as me has a leak in their roof right now,” Malin said. “There was another leak right outside their room and they put a garbage can under that one.”
Malin said that this storm feels a lot like the winter weather last year in San Jose, California, where she is from.
“I know that back home there are a lot of power outages,” Malin said. “The storms have had a big impact, a lot of places here aren’t built for the rain.”
Arabella Estes (first year) said they are enjoying the weather and walking in the rain.
“I did have one class canceled so far, it was moved online and we had an assignment on Moodle,” Estes said. “I would have rather gone to class, I don’t mind the rain so much, I don’t think it’s having a massive impact on me academically.”
Estes said they are from San Francisco, California, and that the storms around the state for the last few years have been very bad.
“Two or three years ago a massive tree fell down in my backyard, and we had a power outage for a few days,” Estes said. “So honestly, this storm does not seem that bad in comparison, I feel better being able to be in my dorm that isn’t leaking.”
Estes said they didn’t expect the storm to invoke a response from the college, and they were impressed by the Emergency Response emails from Occidental.
Contact Olivia Correia at ocorreia@oxy.edu.
