Photo by Sofía García Vargas | The Crow’s Nest
By Riley Benson
At approximately 5 p.m. students at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus received confirmation that the campus will reopen on Sunday Sept. 29, with classes resuming on Monday, Sept. 30.
Residence halls will reopen at 8 a.m. and Dining services at 10 a.m.
According to university communication, the Piano Man building, One Fifth Avenue South building and Special Services building will remain closed until further notice. Operations from these buildings will be moved to alternative on-campus locations.
The university also urges students and faculty to avoid parking on Mid Peninsula Drive and Peninsula Drive East, near the College of Marine Science, as debris cleanup efforts are still ongoing.
The Emergency Management teams across all campuses met today at 4 p.m. to discuss the next step toward campus recovery.
Power outages impacted Pelican Apartments as of 4 p.m. on Sept. 27, according to official communication from the USF St. Petersburg Housing & Residential Education office. In the email, students were urged to discard any food that was left in their dormitory fridges once they returned.
Additionally, initial cleanup and power restoration efforts were underway, including “some water removal in a few low-lying buildings,” according to Interim Director of USFSP Communications and Marketing Matthew Cimitile.
Cimitile said there was no storm surge damage/flooding in any of the residence halls at USF St. Petersburg as of 4 p.m. on Friday.
St. Petersburg campus residents were mandated to evacuate their dorms with less than 24 hours notice on Tuesday, Sept. 24. While the other campuses would be closed beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
At 4:30 p.m. that day, Susan Kimbrough, the Director of St. Petersburg Housing and Residential Life, notified students that they had to leave the dorms by 10 a.m. on Sept. 25, with the option of being transported to Juniper-Poplar Hall on the Tampa campus.
On Tuesday, the university stated that it aimed to reopen campuses on Saturday, Sept. 28, with classes across campuses restarting on Monday, Sept. 30. However, in a university-wide email communication sent on Friday, students received notice that these plans were confirmed for the Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses would reopen on Saturday, Sept. 28. , but the St. Petersburg campus would remain closed until further notice.
Pelican Apartments, referred to by most students as “RHO,” the Student Life Center (SLC), the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library and other parts of campus, are located in Evacuation Zone A, which is the first area to be evacuated in the event of potential flooding.
During a Pinellas County press conference at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Sheriff Bob Gualteri said the storm surge was unlike anything the city has seen before. So far, 10 lives were lost in the Tampa Bay area, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and residents are strongly urged to stay at home for now so that reparation work can continue.
During Hurricane Helene, the Tampa Bay Times reported a tidal gauge (a change in sea level) at Albert Whitted Airport that peaked at “6.3 feet above an average high tide” on Friday, Sept. 27. Albert Whitted Airport is located directly across from the SLC back parking lot.
The effects of storm surge are seen throughout the waterfront property, with significant amounts of debris pushed inland and some damage from strong winds.
The University Student Center is open to the public tomorrow, Sept. 28, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., for St. Petersburg residents that need relief from Hurricane Helene. According to Caryn Nesmith, the USF St. Petersburg Director Of Community Relations, on-campus parking will be free for the day and there will be coffee, Wi-Fi and electricity available.
