By Mark Hammontree and Andy McWhorter
Although snow was falling on campus at 9 a.m. Tuesday and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley had declared a state of emergency at 6 a.m., The University of Alabama did not cancel classes until 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
As students and faculty began to try to leave campus, snow continued to fall, and roads around campus became slick. The main roads out of campus and around Tuscaloosa became densely congested with traffic. The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s department began to report accumulation on roadways around 8 a.m. Tuesday and by 9:15 a.m. tweeted that approximately 90 accidents had already been reported in Tuscaloosa County. Across the state, seven people died, and dozens were injured in the icy conditions.
Cathy Andreen, UA director of media relations, said students were notified of the possibility of winter weather and advised to pay attention to road conditions in a campuswide email sent out Monday at 3 p.m.
“Any time severe weather is possible – and because weather conditions can change rapidly – the University strongly encourages each person to monitor weather updates from the National Weather Service and local media sources and to refer to safety tips and weather information posted at prepare.ua.edu,” Andreen said Tuesday afternoon in an emailed statement.
Andreen advised students to consult road conditions online before traveling outside their homes. Andreen said the University’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Policy Group is in charge of making timely recommendations about suspending or delaying classes and monitors weather reports from the National Weather Service and local and state EMA offices when making decisions.
“The National Weather Service updated its predictions for the Tuscaloosa area Tuesday morning, and because of rapidly changing conditions, the emergency preparedness group, who had already convened, decided to cancel classes for the remainder of the day,” Andreen said. “With necessary precautions already in place, UA announced the cancellation to the campus at 10:30 a.m.”
Deborah Lane, associate vice president for university relations and a member of the emergency preparedness group, said they monitored the situation earlier in the week before the storm hit.
“If there is a potential hazard, such as a weather event that might impact the UA campus, the policy group meets prior to the event to review preparedness measures and discuss options,” Lane said. “In the case of this week’s snowstorm, the policy group had been monitoring the weather and were able to act quickly when weather conditions changed rapidly.”
Lane said the emergency preparedness group keeps track of emergency situations and makes recommendations for possible courses of action, but it is ultimately UA President Judy Bonner’s decision whether or not to execute the group’s plan.
“The Emergency Preparedness and Response Policy Group makes decisions based on analysis of the information that is available,” Lane said. “The president has the authority to accept, amend or reject the policy group’s decisions.”
For some students, the change in weather was too quick. Kyle Borland, a junior majoring in public relations, experienced heavy traffic on his way to his 9:30 a.m. class and expected more when he heard classes had been canceled and was dismissed by his professor.
“I got right in my car – I would have gone and played on the Quad, but I have summer tires on my car because it’s Alabama, and you don’t really need winter tires. I wanted to get going before everybody gets on the road, and I left at 10:30, and it still took me until about 11:45 to get to University Village, which is like a mile and a half down 10th Avenue,” Borland said. “Just to get away from Bryant-Denny took me about an hour because I was going down Campus Drive from the West Commuter lot right next to Bryant-Denny, and they blocked off turning left there, and then they had blocked off a bunch of other roads, so traffic literally just sat there.”
Borland said cars were skidding all over the road as students and faculty attempted to exit campus and snow continued to fall.
“My car skidded almost entirely off the road at least once,” Borland said. “I saw five or six car accidents right around the Strip area before I got on 15th.”
For other students, the weather break was a chance to enjoy the snow and explore campus. Caroline Montz, a freshman majoring in psychology, enjoyed the snowy weather and the break from class.
“The snow day was really the first time I’ve actually been in real snow,” Montz said. “I live in Florida, so it’s not often that I get to see snow. It was really cool to just be able to go outside and be with my friends all day. We went sledding, and we went down to the river. It was just really cool.”
Montz said she was just happy that classes were canceled at all.
“I was actually just about to go to my first class when I got the email, and I was so excited because I didn’t want to spend all day inside with it snowing outside,” Montz said. “I was really relieved that they canceled class.”
The winter storm and the unexpected ice it brought to the roads of central Alabama lingered until Thursday.
Thousands of children around the state were unable to return home Tuesday and were forced to remain at their schools overnight. Many school districts were still working to return children home late Wednesday. The University resumed classes Friday.
