Thursday, September 02, 2010

Posted at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010: All UNCW main campus and Onslow Extension classes are now cancelled for the remainder of the day (Thursday) due to a Tropical Storm Warning for the Wilmington area issued by the National Hurricane Center.

Classes will resume on their normal schedule on Friday, Sept. 3. Students are strongly advised to remain in their residence halls from 8 p.m. until midnight on Thursday to ensure their safety.

University employees should continue working their normal shifts on Thursday until 6 p.m. or the end of their regular workday, whichever comes first. All critical personnel will remain on campus until their shifts are complete. The adverse weather policy is in effect for faculty and staff. Administrative leave, due to catastrophic weather, is in effect starting at 6 p.m. today.

All Thursday evening campus events are cancelled. All campus facilities will resume normal hours of operation Friday morning. The Seahawk Loop Shuttle will remain operational until 8:30 pm. tonight. All other shuttles will run on schedule today until 6:30 pm., at which time operations will cease until Friday morning.

At this time, the following UNCW facilities are closed and will reopen at the hours noted below:
- Randall Library will close at 6 p.m. and reopen by 8 a.m. on Friday.
- Wagoner Dining Hall will close at 8 p.m. and will reopen at 7 a.m. on Friday.
- The Student Recreation Center and Campus Life Facilities (Fisher University Union, Fisher Student Center, and Warwick and Burney Centers) also will close at 8 p.m. this evening and will reopen on Friday morning at their regular operating times.

Although Hurricane Earl is currently a major hurricane tracking north along the East coast, the storm is anticipated to have minimal impact on the Wilmington area Thursday night until early Friday morning, with an expected 20-30 mph winds and less than a half an inch of rain.

Although Hurricane Earl is currently a major hurricane tracking north along the East coast, the storm is anticipated to have minimal impact on the Wilmington area Thursday night until early Friday morning, with 20-30 mph winds and less than a half an inch of rain expected. With the beaches experiencing higher winds and large surf, everyone should avoid the beaches. Swimming in the ocean is dangerous due to the significant rip current risk: http://www.uncw.edu/ba/safety/RipCurrents.html.

For updates on Hurricane Earl, monitor the UNCW homepage, www.uncw.edu/alert, the UNCW Alert Emergency Information Hotline at 910.962.3991 or 888.657.5751 and local media. Status updates will be provided as conditions warrant.

For further information:
UNCW Alert Tools: http://sites.google.com/site/uncwalert/Home/uncw-alert-tools
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
National Weather Service, Wilmington Office: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ilm
UNCW Hurricane Page: http://www.uncw.edu/ba/safety/HOP.htm