Devastated Union University won't reopen till Feb. 18

JACKSON, Tenn. -- Union University students and administrators returned to campus this morning and encountered an even more dramatic look at the damage storms brought to their school Tuesday night.

Cars were pushed together in the student parking lot as if heavy equipment shoved them around, roofs were torn off student dorms and the sides stripped away.

The reality of the devastation was such that David Dockery, Union president, revised the date the school would reopen from Feb. 13 to at least Feb. 18.

The university president said the morning look at the damage was shocking and unbelievable.

“We’ve seen some damage to this campus before, but nothing that has come close to this,” he said.

Injuries sent 51 students to the hospital Tuesday night, nine of whom were still hospitalized this morning, university officials said. None were considered life-threatening.

“It’s more of a reality check now that we can actually see it,” said Mark Ellison, a freshman from Newport, Tenn.

Dockery said 40 percent of the student housing buildings were destroyed and another 40 percent are heavily damaged. Across the campus, at least 17 buildings were damaged from the library where books were destroyed, to the White Hall Science Building. Of the 1,200 student cars on campus, fewer than 100 escaped damage. Many of them had windows blown out.

Dockery and students praised the preparedness and reaction by students, and emphasized that their actions avoided any further injuries. When the sirens activated, the president said, the plans went in place and probably saved lives.

“They gave us plenty of warning,” said Jacob Carr, an 18-year-old freshman from Union City.

“I know the students look at these drills as pretty nerdy,” said Mark Kahler, associate vice president for university communications. “But they must have been paying attention. ... The system worked. That and the grace and protection of God was a factor as well.”

The campus has been damaged by other storms in recent years.

Students who rode out the storm in their dorm buildings told stories of rushing wind, stout pressure variations and an eerie silence after the storm passed.

Ellison and Carr were among 10 people who packed into a bathroom in an interior part of one dorm.

“The wind was rushing,” Ellison said of the atmosphere when the storm passed. “Our ears popped and then there was complete silence.

Marty Clements, Jackson-Madison County Emergency Management Agency director, said when rescue teams arrived Tuesday night, they concentrated on the women’s dorm first, then used heavy equipment to start clearing debris away from the men trapped in a bathroom.

“We did have phone contact with them,” Clements said. “We talked to them a couple of hours on a cell phone while this was going on. They were scared.”

Heather Martin was one of the women rescue workers pulled from the debris after a dorm room came crashing around her and five other women.

“We had just barely gotten in when there was this huge roar, and we just covered up,” said Martin, 21, of Erin, Tenn. “We couldn’t move. They got to us real quick. That was a great (rescue) team. They tried to keep us from panicking.”

Martin said she screamed for help some when she heard the sirens and rescue workers, but with everyone pinned together in the bathtub, there were other considerations.

“I had to concentrate on breathing. Screaming didn’t help that at all,” said Martin, who sustained a right leg injury. “We just tried to calm each other down.”

The students praised the warning system by the university, saying resident leaders even went door-to-door telling them to take cover. Ellison and Carr lived in an upstairs room on the end of one building. They could see inside their room from a nearby parking lot this morning because the storm had ripped away their outer wall.

Many students displaced by the storm stayed with university employees overnight.

By mid-morning, students were returning to assess the damage to their rooms, their cars and their campus. In the Chi Omega House, the university had set up a command post for students looking for housing and parents looking for their students. The temperature was dropping rapidly and blustery winds carried a biting rain at times.

Dockery said he was advising those who can to return home until the school gets closer to reopening.

“That’s the best thing they can do,” he said.

Meanwhile, a blog site has been set up for news and updates from the university at www.bpnews.net/blog/.