College Students Sent Home Ahead of Irene

Thousands of college students were forced to evacuate from Virginia universities located in the path of Hurricane Irene, and head home to Northern Virginia to wait out the storm.

The College of William and Mary, located in Williamsburg, started evacuating its’ students on Thursday, less than a week after the school’s dormitories opened for the fall semester, and after only two days of classes.

On Thursday, the school’s emergency system sent texts, calls, and emails to students, warning them about the storm. The students were told to leave campus by noon Friday.

Within minutes of the alert, students were in a panic, calling family and friends to find a place to go.  Many William and Mary students are from Northern Virginia, and the school arranged a charter bus to the Springfield metro station.

But not every student could fit on the bus, so other students had to find alternative ways to make the trek back home. Students with cars offered friends rides, while others were left stranded in Williamsburg.

“I was supposed to catch a Greyhound bus back home to Springfield, but the buses were delayed, and going to take hours to get to Williamsburg," said student Francine Clike. "My dad had to come from Springfield to pick me up.”

The school’s decision to shut down from Friday afternoon through Monday evening caused a great degree of unrest among students.

“I don't completely agree with the college’s decision to close," said Julie Thatcher, a student from Fairfax.  "I wish they had given us a little more time to get out.”

In Newport News, Christopher Newport University officials also decided to shut down.  The school's proximity to the James River and the Chesapeake Bay, and its’ low elevation, mean the campus is prone to flooding.

Many students were forced to take buses, while others stayed with local acquaintances or at a hotel.

"I understand the evacuation, the campus floods so easily,” said student and Burke resident Ryan Collister.

Collister and his friends evacuated by car, taking I-64 and I-95 to Northern Virginia.  “The roads were not as congested as I expected, given the amount of people who were evacuating from the coast,” he said.

Move in at Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, was scheduled for this weekend, with classes set to begin on Tuesday. Due to the severity of the storm in the Norfolk area, classes were cancelled and move-in postponed.

All three schools hope to open early in the week, but official announcements are pending the results of Irene.