Students are forced back home after Hurricane Irene hits the East Coast

In the aftermath of Irene many students were heading home after just the first week of school. Although the University saw no real damage from the tropical storm many other places along the east coast such as New Jersey and Vermont saw extensive damage.
UNH freshman, Kristiana Ploss headed home to Woodstock, VT after just three days here, “I called my parents after the storm had passed and they told me that everything had been destroyed. They said that the basement and the first floor of our house had about four feet of water in it.” Soon after the call Kristiana rushed home to VT to help her family in salvaging anything they had. “It was hard to go home so early. I was just getting to know everyone, and I was going to miss classes but I knew I had to go home and help out my family.” Kristiana was just one of many students who were forced to miss classes and the first week of school due to the hurricane.
UNH Senior Kelsey Jardin has lived her whole life on Cape Cod. Although she endured Hurricane Bob and other hurricanes that had ravaged her home in Mashpee, Irene was going to do some damage. Un-like Kristiana, Kelsey never came to school. With the move in date for UNH changed to Saturday, Kelsey knew where her priorities laid. “I wanted to go back to school so badly, but there was a lot of work to be done at home in preparation for the hurricane. I live right on the ocean so any rough surf or big waves would hit the sea wall and possibly go over into my house. I helped my parent’s board up our house with ply wood and helped lay out sand bags. It was kind of funny because while everyone was moving their stuff into UNH, I was moving sand bags into my house.”
What usually is a fun first weekend back at school for UNH students became somewhat of a sad and missed out weekend. Many students were in the position of Krisitiana and Kelsey and many students worried about their families back home.
The University saw no real damage although power did go out for a few hours in some places. It seemed that Irene skipped right over the University as surrounding areas saw, downed trees and power lines and some damage due to high wind gusts. Students were given the first day of school off which to some started out the year on a great foot. Others are left to catch up on their Monday classes and lecture time missed.