Two major storms made new construction and annual maintenance in Athens a bit more difficult this summer, as high winds and rainstorms swept through the town.
A severe weather storm known as a derecho swept through Athens on June 29, leaving behind a wake of damage that has cost Ohio University approximately $400,000, according to Harry Wyatt, associate vice president for facilities.
“Derechos form when there is significant daytime heating, allowing for strong vertical motion in the atmosphere,” said Ryan Fogt, assistant professor of meteorology and director of the Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis.
“This motion is coupled with very strong winds in the lower atmosphere, which push the storms along and make them severe.”
The storms typically have wind speeds of more than 60 miles per hour and move in a straight line, which can cause severe damage, Fogt said.
The other storm occurred July 18. It was not as severe, but it may have attributed to a power shortage in Southeast Ohio that required OU to lower its power usage for several hours July 17, according to a July Post article.
Some repairs have been completed but others are still underway, OU spokeswoman Katie Quaranta said in a news release. She added that OU has paid for some of the repairs through the university’s property insurance reserves, but is currently searching for other sources of funding.
The storms downed trees and did significant damage to Bob Wren Stadium as well.
“The biggest challenge this summer with the storms was downed or damaged trees. The first (storm) downed at least 25 trees and the second took out five or six,” Wyatt said.
The storms could have downed or seriously damaged some of the large trees on College Green had maintenance crews not previously trimmed the trees to create a better view of the cupola on Cutler Hall,
he said.
The storms also caused widespread power outages in the Southeast Ohio region, indirectly affecting construction.
“Many parts of the city and region were without power for over a week,” Wyatt said, noting that OU only suffered power outages for 18 hours.
Crews at Bob Wren Stadium had covered the baseball field because of the heavy rains, but the winds tore the cover off. Metal parts of the cover knocked over the right-field wall and damaged netting in the neighboring softball field, said Tom Symonds, assistant Athletics director for media
relations.
The storms also slowed the progress on some of OU’s capital improvement projects, but construction crews have since caught up and are on schedule, Wyatt said.
bv111010@ohiou.edu
