Flying lounge chairs and falling trees welcomed visiting families to UF last Friday when tour groups experienced a damaging storm.
Three campus tour groups and the orientation session, Preview, were caught in a rainstorm with high-speed winds that ravished the Student Recreation & Fitness Center’s pool area just after 11 a.m.
Though the entire campus and surrounding areas experienced severe storms, UF’s Wind Hazard Damage Assessment Team reported the pool area might have experienced a tornado with 65 to 85 mph winds.
TaylorJay Roberts, 18, is an incoming UF freshman who experienced the storm while passing the pool area with her Preview group. Roberts said she wished the Preview staffers had been better trained for such situations.
“We were walking to the stadium, and next thing we know the wind starts howling, water in the pool started splashing and a tree went down,” Roberts said. “The staffers were just yelling at us to get into the corner.”
The situation was chaotic and scary for some, she said, because it was clear the staffers were unsure how to get visitors to safety, she said.
“There was a lot of panic,” she said. “Even the staffers were wondering what they should do now.”
Roberts said she was hit by sand and leaves and got debris in her eyes. Branches hit a couple of the staffers, and a flying lounge chair hit a touring student, she said.
Still, she said the experience did not affect her opinion of UF.
“It did affect my opinion of Preview, though,” Roberts said. “Yes, we are all adults, but I expected (the staffers) to watch over us.”
Roberts said she felt the university should keep a better eye on the weather when planning tours and have an emergency route planned for the rest of Summer.
“The wind was just insane,” said Alex Wagner, a 21 year-old UF general business senior and a Preview tour guide, said, “I’ve been in an earthquake before of 8.15 magnitude and it was little like this storm, but not to the extent with the wind and rain.”
The tour groups were walking on the east side of the stadium across from the pool area when palm fronds began flying at the group, followed by lawn chairs that were lifted from the pool area and flung over the fence, Wagner said.
The damage in this area included broken lounge chairs, a fallen tree, dented cars that got hit with flying objects and a metal awning that was ripped off the pool area.
“We’re not trained for flying chairs,” he said. “That was unexpected.”
Sandy Hayden, the assistant director of admissions and the manager of the Welcome Center, does not think tours will change this Summer or that a rain plan will be created.
“When people register (for tours), they are told to bring sunscreen, water bottles and umbrellas,” Hayden said. “When we know it’s going to rain, we hand out ponchos.”
No visitors have called the Welcome Center to complain about the experience, she said.
“They know we can’t control the weather,” Hayden said.
Because UF is a public institution, the state of Florida would pay for any other major damages, said Diane James, UF’s assistant director of risk management and aquatics for RecSports.
“It was scary,” Roberts said, “but it made Preview memorable.”
Areas affected by the storm
- Student Recreation Center pool
- Sisler Hall
- Old President’s House
- Fletcher Drive at Thomas Hall
- Buckman Hall
Source: UF Tornado and Severe Weather Report
