The Category 1 hurricane known as Hurricane Sandy was only a severe storm by the time it reached as far inland as West Chester. Nevertheless, the campus and community was impacted in a number of different ways by the ripple of this natural disaster that landed in South Jersey and ravaged Manhattan. Luckily between borough officials, state emergency personnel, and WCU administrators, all provisions were made for the worst that weather forecasters predicted for West Chester residents and the surrounding area.
There was an abundance of minor damages in the area. The Brandywine Creek flooded terribly to a point that state Route 926, or Street Road, was almost a foot under water. The same road closer to WCU campus had an array of fallen trees, resulting in it being completely cut off from throughway traffic on Tuesday Oct. 30. Route 926 acts as a major backbone to West Chester traffic on the level of Route 202, or West Chester Pike. Dozens of near 100-foot trees fell throughout the area due to Sandy’s devastating winds. Pictured is a fallen pine that luckily fell in the direction away from vehicles and apartments in the Treetops At Chester Hollows apartment complex on West Chester Pike.
West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta explained the damage we sustained within the borough of West Chester due to Hurricane Sandy. “We were indeed very fortunate in the borough of West Chester, and in Chester County and the region. The storm did not hit us as hard as was predicted. We had a tree uprooted that damaged a house on South Walnut Street, and we had up to 800 people without electricity at one point, but as of early Friday morning there we had about a dozen people left who still did not have power…Otherwise families and businesses are generally returning to normal.”
The state emergency personnel and many other authorities converged to make sure that if West Chester was hit as bad as weather forecasters predicted, that we would be prepared. In fact, the university greatly contributed to this cause by assuring that West Chester citizens would not be without refuge.
“West Chester University was a designated emergency shelter. My understanding is that it wasn’t needed but I participated in the briefings, as a stakeholder, and was very impressed with the professionalism of the incident management team from the state, as well as the officials at the university for all coming together and doing what needed to be done to be prepared to help people,” Comitta said.
With West Chester being the seat of Chester County, the town was prepared with the manpower to combat Hurricane Sandy’s 60-80 mile-per-hour winds and the flood warnings received days before. The mayor extended her many thanks to those who served West Chester and the surrounding areas: “I thank our first responders, our ambulance, and our fire and police for being on duty and on call 24/7, which they really do every day, but they were staffed up full force for the hurricane…They were there for anyone who needed it. We remain on alert and on call to assist neighbors outside of our region who were more severely hit, as they would be here for us if we needed them,” Comitta said.
A true collaboration of forces between various government authorities in the area assured West Chester locals and campus residents that West Chester is prepared for the worst of weather conditions. As the mayor expressed, the university was a willing receiver of those in need of shelter in this incident of emergency.
As of this weekend, all power has been returned to West Chester.
Nicholas Devoe is a fifth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at ND626335@wcupa.edu.