“When will winter ever end?” asks Alana Belkevich ’18, as she sinks into a couch, wrapped in a cozy blanket to stay warm. This question was a common one on the minds of countless SLU students and North Country residents over the course of the past week.
The April winter storm created an all-campus ice rink, as every surface was covered in thickly layered ice, making it dangerous to walk from building to building. Students reportedly resorted to sliding down hills near the Quad as a form of late-night entertainment.
Early Sunday morning, many residents experienced power outages, as the ice managed to take down power lines after weighing heavily upon them. Outages struck again Sunday afternoon, plunging much of campus into darkness for upwards of a few hours.
Geovania (Debby) Ornai ’19, a community assistant in Reiff, discussed the power outages across campus. “I was in Sykes kitchen cooking with my friends when the power went off. I got frustrated because I couldn’t finish cooking without the electricity. We moved to Kirk Douglas’ kitchen to finish up.” She continues, “On top of that, my residents and I weren’t able to get back to Reiff because the system was down. We had to wait until someone from inside could let us into the building.”
Canton wasn’t the only town struck by power outages, as many communities were left in the dark as the storm knocked out their power. Upwards of 2,000 residents across northern New York have been affected.
National Grid spokesperson Patrick D. Stella was interviewed by The Watertown Daily Times concerning the severity of the outages and stated, “We’re in a good position to respond to outages. We have had scattered outages in different places throughout the state [on Sunday], but it hasn’t been unmanageable at all.” He also said that they had nearly 2,000 workers dedicated to restoring power across the Northeast.
Many local schools delayed their opening or closed their doors on April 16 as a result of the weather as local crews worked to remove the ice and slush from roadways. Residents were warned to steer clear of trees because falling branches and chunks of melting ice were expected to be pulled down from their perches high in the eaves.
Students who were away for the weekend faced struggles while attempting to travel back to campus for Monday morning classes. Sarah Vogel ’19 was traveling back home to SLU and commented, “I’m not sure why I expected the North Country weather to be anything but unpredictable. I got stranded in Pennsylvania because I honestly think that even if I made it to New York, I would’ve needed to be driving a zamboni to get anywhere safely.”
Senator Kristin Gillibrand was scheduled to pay a visit to campus Monday morning but was unfortunately unable to travel due to the storm.
Julie Ellis, a resident of Potsdam, NY, is familiar with the North Country winter, having spent the entirety of her life in the area. According to her, while a winter storm in April isn’t uncommon, it definitely isn’t welcome. “There were pretty dangerous conditions driving in the North Country Saturday morning,” she stated. “However, contrary to popular belief, spring will eventually come. It always takes some time.”
Chin up Saints, maybe the time of spring is on the horizon, as sunny skies and warm weather are looming in the future, hopefully spreading some warmth and light for Springfest and the final weeks of the semester to come.