UF and Santa Fe College campuses will be closed Wednesday due to Tropical Storm Elsa’s projected pathway over North Florida.
Classes and normal operations on both campuses are planned to resume Thursday.
In an email sent Tuesday to all UF students, faculty and staff, UF Provost Joseph Glover and UF Senior Vice President Charlie Lane announced the closing of the UF campus and the cancelation of classes Wednesday due to the storm. The email also outlined available resources on campus during the storm.
Limited UF campus dining options will be open Wednesday, including the Fresh Food Company at Broward Dining Hall, as well as P.O.D. Markets at The Hub, Rawlings Plaza and Beaty Towers.
The Hitchcock Field and Fork Pantry, a free resource for UF community members experiencing food insecurity, will be closed Wednesday. It will offer extended hours Tuesday until 6 p.m.
Other dining options, like Chick-Fil-A and Einstein Bros Bagels at Sun Terrace Cafe, Subway at Rawlings Plaza and Starbucks at Norman Hall, will be available for students Wednesday at various times. Dining options and hours of operation can be found on the Gator Dining Services website.
All residence hall offices will be closed Wednesday with the exception of Cypress and Infinity Hall’s desks, UF’s two 24-hour area desks, according to internal emails obtained by The Alligator.
Before sending the weather alert to the UF community July 6, the university issued five other updates regarding Tropical Storm Elsa — the first series of emergency weather alerts UF has released in 2021.
UF students also received an alert Tuesday about a phone outage causing campuswide AT&T connectivity issues.
Santa Fe College canceled classes that start after 6 p.m. Tuesday and will close at 7 p.m., according to the Student Life website.
Santa Fe College President Paul Broadie II announced students, faculty and staff cannot visit the Santa Fe centers or northwest campus until they reopen unless authorized, according to a press release sent Tuesday.
The only department open on the Santa Fe campus will be its police department, according to a Santa Fe Police Department Twitter post.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for Gainesville Tuesday, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.
On July 3, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 15 Florida counties — including Alachua County.
According to the Alachua County website, the entire county is likely to experience tropical-storm-force winds Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Residents in flood-prone areas or unsafe housing are encouraged to consider staying with family, friends or in a hotel. Officials recommend people monitor future media reports on Tropical Storm Elsa.
Contact Makiya Seminera at mseminera@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @makseminera.
Contact Antonia LaRocca at alarocca@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @antoniarlarocca.
Makiya Seminera is a UF international studies and Arabic senior, with a minor in mass communication. She's currently the editor-in-chief of The Alligator, but has previously served as university administration reporter, The Avenue editor, social media manager and opinion editor. She also serves as managing editor for Florida Political Review. Over summer, she interned with The State in Columbia, South Carolina, as a politics & government reporting intern.
Antonia LaRocca is a staff writer at The Alligator.
