Some memorable moments from yesterday afternoon’s severe storm…
Yesterday afternoon, we were in the process of getting ready to host a Northeast BBQ in the northeast quad for the Worcester and Franklin students. It was to be our annual event to celebrate the end of semester and we expected 3000 students to join us. The weather was a bit cloudy but nothing unusual. We knew there was only a 20% chance of rain in the afternoon but figured it might miss us. Suddenly at approximately 4:15 pm, I noticed there was a brown sky filled with blowing sand and high winds, in front of the Worcester office window. It was getting intense; I grabbed my camera and took several pictures and yelled at Manager Martha to watch with me. Then I realized it was a serious situation as I witnessed the wind topple the row of our three tents. I rushed downstairs toward the BBQ site. It was a big mess with food and equipment scattered all over the place and in the midst of it, our staff was busy trying to clean up. I met manager Tim and our first priority was to see if anyone was injured. Unfortunately, there were five staff members who were slightly injured, including one person who suffered a broken rib and another person injured their neck; all due to flying debris and tent poles that collapsed. We cancelled the BBQ immediately, cleaned up everything and moved the function indoors as soon as possible since the students were expecting to eat.
That’s not the end of the story; there were also power outages at Worcester which made matters worse. We could not open the kitchen right away since most of the equipment and ventilation are powered by electricity. With quick thinking of our manager Marc, we sent half of the staff back to Franklin (they still had power being on the same grid as the UMass health care site), to reopen as quickly as possible along with some staff from Worcester. It was not an easy task, since we had already shipped most of our food to the BBQ and most of it was no longer safe to eat. We started by providing soup, deli items and salads and gradually provided hot items. Our students understood the situation and were very grateful.
At the same time, Worcester was turned into a medical triage. EMT and police attended to any injuries, while we prepared to resume cooking once the power was up and running.
Worcester reopened last night at 6:15 and things slowly returned to normal.
What impressed me most in the wake of the storm was that there were many and I mean MANY students who volunteered to help us clean up and pick up the damaged food items. A special thanks goes to the UMass Muslim Student Association. It took us less than an hour to clean up after such a mess. We really appreciated their assistance and it made me so proud of the UMass community as we worked together to pick up the pieces, so to speak. It was quite an experience for all of us. However, we made it through with the helping hands of so many.
This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu
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