Storm affects University

By Jessica Webster
City Editor

Nathan Dean/Editor in Chief It’s only rain … Several students huddle underneath a bus shelter near the Electrical Engineering Building during the tornado warning Thursday. Many students chose to continue walking to class rather than seek shelter when the sirens went off.

Tornado sirens and storm warnings sent people scurrying to basements and rooms without windows Thursday as rain, hail and strong winds passed through Greater Lafayette.

Purdue residence halls, the Liberal Arts and Education Building, Lynn Hall of Veterinary Medicine, the Heine Pharmacy Building, the Krannert Building and the Purdue Student Health Center were just a few buildings across campus that enforced some form of evacuation or safety procedure. Other buildings and businesses across Greater Lafayette, such as the Journal and Courier, sent people to basements and windowless rooms, as well.

Some students spent as long as an hour in basements and hallways across campus. Others simply went home.

About 150 students spent 20 minutes in the basement of Shreve Residence Hall following the sirens, according to Nathan Blue, a senior in the School of Agriculture. In the event of a tornado or siren warning, residence hall staff members knock on doors to send people to safe areas. "This is normal procedure," said Blue.

Authorities with the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department said no severe hail or tornado damage was reported, although a tornado reportedly touched down near McCutcheon High School in Lafayette. Authorities were unable to confirm those reports.

Around 11:15 a.m., the storm sirens sounded and several television news stations began to warn people in Tippecanoe County and the Lafayette area to stay indoors and to go to lower levels of their residences.

Jeanne Norberg, with Purdue University News Service, said she heard the sirens but wasn't too worried.

"You know, a siren doesn't always mean there is a tornado," she said. "We went outside, looked around and saw that the rain had let up. We also saw that the skies didn't look threatening. Then we went back to our offices."

Purdue faculty and staff are issued a memo at the beginning of the year that informs them of what to do in the event of a tornado, said Norberg.

Storm affects University

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