District Prepares for Coming Hurricane

Four days after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the D.C. area and the east coast, the impending Hurricane Irene has spurred many to flock to stores in preparation for severe weather conditions.

Howard students and the surrounding community reacted as the category-one tropical storm touching down in the District remained eminent.

John Lewis, a recent graduate of Georgetown University and a probation officer in D.C. saw no reason to stress over the approaching storm.

"I feel like because it has been taken down to a level two, it is not that much to prepare for and since we are more inward than places like Boston or New York—which are like the target areas right now—so we are just going to get a whole bunch of rain, and I already had food in my house so going out to shop wasn't something that I really had to worry about," he said.

However, Lewis said he did go to the store for flashlights and candles in case of power outages.

Jericho Duroche, a Howard alumnus and New York resident, recently decided to make a trip to D.C. and said that had he stayed in New York, he still would have been caught by the storm.

"I just came down here on vacation visiting my friends that are here, and I get caught in the midst of hurricane mania," Duroche said.

The last storm to affect the D.C. area was Hurricane Isabel in 2003, which left trees uprooted and many homes without electricity.

One business that saw a rise in patronage on Friday was the CVS Pharmacy on 10th and U Streets as many saw fit to load up on food and water for the weekend.

Chaz Gipson, a graduate student and student assistant for the Howard Plaza Towers, West, made a grocery store run to purchase food and water for his residents and himself. In preparation for the storm, Gipson and other student assistants put together packages for residents in case of emergencies.

"We have packed care packages for the residents, we have packed food for the residents, we have water, cases of water just to make sure the residents are safe," he said. "We also had drills in preparation as RAs to get our residents together in case need be."

As Gipson witnessed others stocking up with great amounts of food and beverages, he remained unsure as to whether the storm would be as severe as anticipated.

"It is hard to tell but as I was in the grocery store getting things for myself and my residents, one lady had 12 cases of water, 12 24-cases of water and people had boxes of food, one household had buggies full of boxes of food instead of taking one thing of baloney, one thing of bacon, they took the boxes and there was no bread left," Gipson said.

"When I was in the grocery store I was really concerned, is it really that serious? Is it really the end of the world?"

Duroche said he was surprised two natural events would occur so close together.

"An earthquake and a hurricane in one week, that is crazy," Duroche said.

Lewis said situations like this make people more prepared and cautious when it comes to unexpected weather conditions. He finds the end of the world theories that people often consider in harsh weather conditions to be questionable, but instances like this seem to put fear in the air.

"I think it is actually more of a detriment to people who haven't experienced extreme weather, because I have literally heard the apocalypse is here, and it is the end of the world," Lewis said. "We had an earthquake a couple days ago and now it is a hurricane, what else is going to happen? "