Over the next two weeks, Julia Boms has to take two midterms and the Graduate Record Examination. But what distracts the University of Wisconsin-Madison Senior from studying is not the average internet browsing or chatting, but Hurricane Sandy, a tropical storm headed toward her family at home on Long Island, New York.
Students at UW-Madison, many of whom come from the East Coast, are worried about Sandy, which hit land along the coast of southern New Jersey around 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
In Boms’ hometown, flooding from Hurricane Sandy shut down the train station, as well as power and phone lines.
Boms said it is hard to deal with being away from home and hearing about the storm, the severity of which became apparent when her mom said the area WalMart was sold out of essential items such as pasta.
“I know I’m a lot safer here, but I do want to be with my family in case, God forbid, anything happens,” she said.
Tropical Storm Sandy has also caused shutdowns of schools and mass transit in cities such as New York.
UW-Madison Junior Kris Doerfler said his brother visited him over the weekend, but is unable to return home to a town on the outskirts of Queens until Wednesday due to the weather conditions.
Doerfler said his family is more concerned with monetary damages from basement flooding than of a threat to their lives. One of his friends had to support a tree in his backyard with two giant metal rods to keep it from falling on the house.
“I’m not too worried in terms of life danger,” Doerfler said. “Only property danger.”
