CRISIS
PLANNING
JUMPING INTO ACTION DURING THE TUSCALOOSA TORNADO
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA By Kristina Hopton-Jones Director, University Dining Services University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa
(Editor’s note: Soon after a tornado hit the University of Alabama campus, Campus Dining Today reached out to Kristina Hopton-Jones to ask if she would keep day-by-day notes on the crisis and share them with CDT. Following are her notes and observations, shared in the hope they might help others with their crisis planning and response.
C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY
72 n April 27, 2011, an EF4 tornado swept through Tuscaloosa, Ala., and directly hit the campus of University of Alabama (UA). (EF5 is the highest ranking possible for tornadoes.) It was part of the 2011 Super Outbreak, which unleashed 358 tornadoes in six states over a four-day period, and was the country’s worst natural catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Ours was the second-most devastating U.S. tornado on record. The tornado was a mile wide, killed at least 342 people, including six UA students, destroyed nearly 10,000 homes and buildings, and caused at least $5 billion in physical damage.
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At 10:50 a.m. on April 27, an alert was issued warning of possible severe weather. The UA Emergency Operations Center was activated and staffed by 11:30 a.m. By 3:30 p.m., the first tornado warning was issued and students and UA employees were urged to take shelter. At 6:00 p.m., the tornado hit the city. The news reported that though the campus suffered no structural damage, power was out, trees were down, and off-campus areas where many students, faculty, and staff lived had been destroyed or damaged.
On the evening of that first day, with power out all over campus, Bama Dining [a division of Aramark, the campus’ foodservice contractor] had to feed the entire campus population that had not yet evacuated, as well as prepare for several more days of dining service before power would be fully restored.
Wednesday, April 27 Situation:
• No power across campus starting at about 4:30 p.m.; full campus population in need of food. • Limited personnel on hand to feed students who had few-to-no options other than Lakeside Dining, the central command center for emergency foodservice operations. • Lakeside was constructed with a generator for emergency lighting and power for one walk-in cooler and one walk-in freezer. (Note: Wi-Fi works in Lakeside with emergency power.) • With no power, fountain machines were not operational. Bottled water and tea were available.