Irene brings first-years closer as MoHi shuts down, escapes damage

Hurricane Irene’s arrival just before the start of orientation wreaked havoc on first-years’ move-in schedules—but the storm also provided some unique experiences for the class of 2015 members who arrived before the rain.

“I think we actually bonded more over the fact that we were all evacuated together—it makes for a great memory,” Anne Steele, CC ’15 and a Columbia Outdoor Orientation Program participant, said. “The day of the hurricane we were all committed to staying up until the winds picked up, so a freshman friend and I came outside when the winds were blowing and the storm was at its peak.”

Since the hurricane hit the city during the planned beginning of the New Student Orientation Program, many events were rescheduled, and some, such as convocation, were cancelled. But Matt Levine, CC ’15, said he doesn’t feel first-years missed out.

“Hurricane Irene gave us more free roam of the campus and a little bit less structure. I think it helped us interact a little bit more freely,” Levine said. “It was less structured and I don’t think you always need icebreaker games—we went into the icebreakers actually knowing some people. It got our floor really close because we were moving in and there was nothing to do.”

Most first-years only dealt with moving back their flights a couple days, but for COÖP students, it meant cutting short their trips and seeing the storm hit campus. COÖP was scheduled to be four days of biking, hiking, or canoeing, but was cut short by at least a day for all of the programs.

“It would have been nice to be out a little bit longer, but it was also nice to be back and bond with everyone here,” Nicole Lewis, SEAS ’15, said. “We got food and ate bagels and just kind of hung out.”

Justin Zhao, SEAS ’15, said that he felt that the rescheduling of NSOP events was disorganized, and that one mass email to first years with a final, revised new schedule would have helped. However, that lack of clarity helped the class form closer—if different—bonds, with everyone looking to each other for help and a good time.

Irene also pushed the hospitality of some first-years further than before. Alejandra Oliva, CC ’15, said she was surprised by how welcoming some people were, such as the student who offered his basement to any classmates who moved in on the originally planned move-in day.

“It made me feel good about coming here if people were willing to open their doors to strangers,” Oliva said.

Off campus, the storm caused a scare on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning—but ultimately left minimal physical or economic damage in Morningside Heights.

Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue took on an eerie quality as nearly every store in Columbia’s vicinity shut down. Even Westside Market, known for being open 24 hours a day, shut its doors for about nine hours out of safety concerns for customers and staff members.

After Westside reopened Sunday, business was 10 to 15 percent lower than a normal day, store manager Nick Glenis said. “That was partially due to losing the hours in the morning but also because people stocked up so much in the days leading up to it,” he said.

Deluxe’s general manager Marius Bajdechi said that the restaurant lost “several thousand dollars” in business by closing for Sunday brunch, but overall losses for the week weren’t significant.

Many stores reopened earlier than they had planned after seeing that the weather was fairly calm by Sunday afternoon.

“As soon as we saw that the weather wasn’t as bad as it was supposed to be and that a lot of people were coming out, we opened for them,” Nussbaum & Wu’s general manager Sharon Bain said.

For many businesses, Irene’s real impact was in bringing the neighborhood together.

Bajdechi said that at Deluxe, “Sunday was insanely busy. The line was out the door before the kitchen even opened.”

At Il Cibreo, the staff began setting up shop again at around 1 p.m. Sunday, even though the restaurant wasn’t planning to open again until dinnertime.

“But as we took the chairs off the tables, people just came in and sat down and we offered them coffee,” general manager John Lenahan said. “There was a great camaraderie. People were just happy to get out of their homes.”

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