It has been an eventful week on campus. Hurricane Florence was heading straight towards North Carolina, the state where Appalachian State University (and me) is located. The uni is situated well inland near the Tennessee and Virginia borders so I knew the direct impact would not be a severe as the coastal areas. As many students come from the coast, App State called of classes on the Thursday and Friday prior to Hurricane Florence making land allowing students to go home and help their families evacuate.
The National Hurricane Centre is a fantastic resource to track hurricanes and it is what I used to follow the path of Hurricane Florence. Below is a slideshow of the images I took from this website to track the progress and in some you can see where I am:
As the hurricane progressed Appalachian State University deemed the threat of flooding from the significant rainfall reason enough to cancel class on the Monday and Tuesday following. Throughout the entire process App State communicated with students and faculty keeping us updated on the situation and closures related to the uni. My home uni, La Trobe, was also in contact to offer support if needed. Though I never felt unsafe. I knew that the main risk for Boone was flooding and landslides. It did seem like the locals were prepping for isolation as all the water and bread in town sold out. Walmart was an interesting experience during this time.
Thankfully the worst I witnessed was on Sunday, a day of wind and rain as shown in the video below:
As I sit out on a patio writing this on the Tuesday following the Hurricane you would never know Florence was here. The sun it out and not a cloud in the sky.
Until next time…
Adventures of Backpacker Mel 