Nearly a month after the hurricane in Florence, this campus is still picking up parts.

The news and the observer

When recovering after the passage of Hurricane Florence at the North Carolina Coastal University in Wilmington, industrial drying facilities have dehumidified the Leutze Hall recently.

TFreezer temperatures rose slowly. And suddenly, scientific samples, including Antarctic embryos, needed a new home. Groups of four to six carried the freezers to the black stairwells in the science hall and loaded them into vans. The trucks were driven into campus pockets with backup power, unloaded and reconnected. Some samples have been saved. Others were not.

Dobo Hall, home of the University of North Carolina in Wilmington's biology and chemistry departments, was hit hardest by Hurricane Florence last month. On the outside of the building, the long-leafed pines that usually dominated the campus were scattered across the streets. The roads and manicured lawns were hidden under a blanket of leaves, branches and other debris. The campus, where students rushed to class, was buzzing, now filled with chainsaw drones, cranes, generators and industrial fans.

"It was a building site," said University Chancellor Jose V. Sartarelli recently.

After a hurricane, tasks that seem simple on the surface, like moving freezers, become more complex. There are always more broken lifts to avoid and dark stairs to cross.

On September 14, Category 1 Hurricane devastated the coastal town of Wilmington with torrential rains and winds up to 100 km / h. University staff planned the devastation in advance, but it is difficult to restore a campus housing 138 buildings and about 4,200 students.

The damage on campus was estimated at about $ 140 million. In total, some 600 people worked day and night cleaning. Eighty people spent the first two weeks after the storm removing debris from trails and cutting broken tree branches. Finally, students will return to class next week. This is what happens when a campus needs to quickly take things in hand.

Cleaning

Once enough debris was cleared of roads and trails to allow emergency crews to navigate, they immediately turned to buildings with the most vulnerable content: the library and the science rooms.

"We must act very quickly [at the library] so you do not lose more material than you need, "said Mark D. Morgan, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Commercial Business for Facilities.

The William Madison Randall Library and its books have suffered limited damage. A team of 100 people spent a total of 24 hours cleaning the binders of each exposed book of the building. Others have been working quickly to repair the roof, remove the wet furniture and set up high speed fans. Teams will continue to monitor moisture levels for months.

The 100,000 square foot Dobo Room was not so lucky.

Dobo Hall, one of the largest science buildings on the campus, is unlikely to reopen this academic year. It is a research center for faculty in areas such as cell biology and synthetic chemistry, and is home to many courses in biology and chemistry.

The hall is normally a dynamic and active venue, with students and faculty entering and exiting from morning to night, said Aswani K. Volety, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. After the storm, the building was a shock, he said.

"Once you have quit the initial shock, two things come to your mind," said Volety. "How do you protect the student experience and education … and how do you protect faculty research?"

Moving freezers, which contained samples for diabetes and other pharmaceutical research, was an impressive collaborative effort, Volety said. "I was stunned and I still wonder how we did it."

The work is not finished yet. Tasks include working with chemical companies to move high-end building instruments. Some are not only delicate and potentially dangerous, but many can not be replaced by "ready-to-use" purchases, Volety said.

Several faculty offices, classrooms and laboratories will be relocated. It will not be easy either. Teachers and staff members have spent years filling their desks with books and souvenirs, Sartarelli said. Not being able to return to these spaces will be difficult.

The campus does not have enough laboratories to compensate for the losses of Dobo, which only adds to the problems, he said.

In addition to debris, the campus is littered with truck-sized generators, dehumidifiers, giant fans and water extraction machines. The buildings are connected to an octopus shaped tubing that pumps the air fresh and dry to maintain the quality of the air. The buildings have temporary roofs and wet carpets were thrown away. Some of these devices will greet students and faculty upon their return.

The cleanup was "organized chaos," Volety said.

Return to normal

After a mandatory campus evacuation on September 11th, employees were allowed to travel on October 1st. Students will return on October 6th and classes will resume on Monday. This is the longest period during which students were forced to leave a UNC campus due to a storm.

Jeff Janowski, University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Hurricane Florence caused 34 inches of rain and $ 140 million in damages at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington.

All campus dormitories will be reopened, but about 100 students living off campus are still displaced, Sartarelli said. The university plans to work closely with off-campus institutions to identify options for these students, he said.

Wilmington herself also participates. Daniela Berry, a sophomore student in recreation management, said members of her local church had invited students to stay in their room of friends.

The university also helps students, faculty and staff with emergency relief funds. UNC is partnering with the state government to provide students with micro-grants to cover costs such as car repairs and rent payments, said Margaret Spellings, president of the system. The University of Houston, which offered such grants after Hurricane Harvey last year, was a model.

Other UNC institutions have also contributed to the recovery. The flagship campus in Chapel Hill, for example, sent five experts in environmental health and safety.

"Everyone is aware that it could be you next time."

"Everyone is aware that this could be next time, so it's comforting to see the collaboration, teamwork and generosity of spirit that characterized last week," said Spellings.

When students come home this weekend, they should be prepared for a series of ongoing disruptions, Morgan said.

"We are doing everything in our power to make it a safe campus – it is obviously our number one concern," he said. "We are trying to get as close to normal as possible, but with that amount of damage, it will not be like before."

For now, the teams are working to restore a sense of normalcy on campus. But even when students go to class next week, the walkways will be framed by tree stumps and "air purifier" machines, reminding that the semester has been anything but ordinary.

Follow Cailin Crowe on Twitter at @cailincrowe, or write to him at [email protected].