Thursday, September 27, 2001

Two students dead in Maryland tornado
By Etan Horowitz
The Diamondback

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (U-WIRE) — A fast-moving tornado ripped through College Park Monday, killing two University of Maryland students, forcing the evacuation of most of North Campus, destroying buildings and wreaking havoc throughout the campus.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening visited the campus Monday night and declared a state of emergency in Prince George's County. The campus was open Tuesday, but classes were canceled.

Capt. Chauncey Bowers, of the Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department, said two female students who were driving on University Boulevard were killed after the tornado picked their vehicle up and threw it into the rear of Easton Hall.

Forty-seven people, none with life-threatening injuries, were taken to area hospitals, Bowers said.

Bowers also said the tornado destroyed the North Woods Buffet, the tennis bubble on University Boulevard and trailers temporarily housing the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, located behind the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The campus day care center also sustained severe damage.

Five people were rescued from the debris of the trailers located behind the Arts Center, Bowers said. Search dogs and thermal imaging cameras were used to make sure no one else was trapped in the rubble.

At least 2,500 students were displaced Monday when six dorms were evacuated for more than five hours due to damage from the storm, campus spokesman George Cathcart said.

Students were allowed to return at about 11 p.m. Residents of University Courtyard were unable to return to their residences Monday night and the campus made no contingency plan to house them.

“We do have damage in probably six resident life buildings,” Cathcart said. “None of it is really serious it seems at this point -- trees on porches, [roofing materials] pulled loose, broken windows.”

Cathcart confirmed the two fatalities and said that other campus injuries were “mostly cuts and nothing serious.” Some injuries were treated at the University Health Center and others were transported to Washington Adventist Hospital.

Calvin Meadows, a meteorological technician with the Baltimore-Washington office of the National Weather Service, said a tornado estimated to be traveling at about 40 miles per hour moved from Stafford County, Va., through Washington and into northern Prince George’s County.

He said the tornado touched down in Beltsville at 5:20 p.m., in College Park at 5:24 p.m. and in northern Laurel at 5:45 p.m. Meadows confirmed the fatalities and said there were reports of damaged houses, downed poles and overturned cars throughout Prince George’s County.

Meadows said the tornadoes were not a surprise and warnings were issued at about 5:10 p.m. for Northern Prince George’s County. He said high pressure over the past several days has caused moisture over the Eastern Sea Board.

The area around Denton Hall and the Arts Center looked like a war zone. Guard houses were destroyed, trees strewn along the roads, light posts felled, and trucks, cars and other vehicles overturned.

A group of three construction trailers, maintained by Turner Construction, which has been working on the Arts Center, were completely destroyed along with cars parked alongside them.

The trailers normally house 45 offices, officials said. University of Maryland president C.D. Mote Jr. said seven people were inside the trailers at the time the tornado hit but were all accounted for. Some of the people suffered injuries.

“It’s total devastation,” he said. “[The tornado was] impressive in its voracity.”

Rescue workers spent much of the afternoon searching through the piles of rubble, trying to free workers who were trapped inside. At least one person was brought out on a stretcher from the destroyed trailers.

Toby Wilson, a photocopy specialist for the institute, looked outside the window of the trailer when he heard the wind. Seconds later, he was flying through the air, landing stunned, but not seriously injured, 80 feet away.

“All of a sudden, I felt the whole trailer shift and I was on my knees, trying to make heads or tails of what happened,” he said.

Damage was widespread throughout the campus Monday. Shingles were torn off the roof of University of Maryland, University College and wooden beams were flung to the ground. Portable restrooms were slammed up against fences near Lot 1.

Considering there were only a few seconds of warning, Mote applauded the campus for its response effort. He also said the tornado is the latest in a series of dilemmas the campus has had to deal with this month.

“It’s pretty hard to run a campus right now,” he said. “I can’t wait until September is over.”