No significant damage, flooding or electrical outages occurred AU's campus after Tropical Storm Hanna hit the D.C. area with heavy rain and wind this weekend, according to Public Safety Cpl. Logan Asay.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport received 3.5 inches of rain and sustained winds of up to 33 mph on Saturday. Northern Virginia received the highest amount of rainfall, with 9 inches in Prince William County and 6.19 inches in Leesburg, according to The Washington Post.
AU took measures to prepare students and staff on campus in case there was flooding or electrical outages due to the storm. Additionally, the university sent out a mass e-mail to students on Friday to warn them of the impending storm and to be prepared with flashlights if there was an electrical outage.
Housing and Dining Programs reminded resident directors and resident assistants in the main campus residence halls and Tenley campus of AU's year-round weather emergency weather procedures. Housing and Dining also provided flashlights to residence halls in case of electrical outage, according to Director of Residence Life Rick Treter.
Housing and Dining distributed "Hurricane Preparedness" flyers for RAs to post in the residence halls.
These flyers instructed students to prepare for the storm by moving furniture away from windows and electrical appliances and objects from the floor. The flyers also told students to have flashlights in case of electrical outages. Finally, the flyers instructed students to stay indoors, away from windows, in case of a hurricane until they receive further notice from Public Safety or Housing and Dining.
Liz Marjolled, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she felt that AU's extensive storm warnings might have scared more people than they helped.
Heather Kryzak, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said she thought AU overplayed the storm's threat.
"I think [the university] made a bigger deal about [the storm] than it was," she said.
Students did not report any damage to their residence halls on Saturday from the heavy rainfall and winds.
"I felt safe," said Sarah Filley, a freshman in CAS. Her RA in Leonard Hall posted the hurricane preparedness flyer by the bathrooms.
There were no reports of damage at the south side residence halls either.
Brittany Schrenker, a sophomore in SIS, said she noticed water pooling on the Megabytes Café floor during lunch but that Anderson Hall stayed dry and maintained power.
Michael Sahl, a sophomore in the School of Communication, said the rain stopped around 6 p.m. He said he had anticipated a more violent storm.
"It was kind of weak," he said. "I was expecting a little bit more rain."
Eagle Staff Writer Marisa Kendall contributed to this article.
You can reach this staff writer at rkern@theeagleonline.com.
