PARKERSBURG - Area colleges suffered little damage and few delays during the recent storms and power outages.
Marie Foster Gnage, president of West Virginia University at Parkersburg, said the college sustained only minor damage during the June 29 derecho that downed trees, damaged buildings and knocked out power to a large section of the state, including most of the Mid-Ohio Valley.
"There was some minor damage, but it wasn't enough that it stopped anything at the college," she said.
Power to the campus was out for only a day, and Gnage said the campus was mostly back to normal by Sunday, July 1.
However, WVU-P canceled summer classes July 2.
"The governor declared a state of emergency, which meant they wanted people off of the roads," Gnage said. "We could have held class, everything was there in order for us to have class, but because of the state of emergency we opted to close.
The college also was closed July 4 due to the holiday, but Gnage said otherwise summer classes ran without disruption.
Ohio Valley University likewise saw little disruption in its classes.
Officials at OVU said storm damage "consisted of several downed trees along with some minor roof and flashing damage and minimal food loss due to refrigeration being without power," said Jeff Dimick, executive vice president of OVU. The college was without power from around 6:45 p.m. June 29, about the time the storm struck, until around 7 a.m. July 1.
"No classes or other work activities were disrupted," Dimick said.
Kari Thompson, spokeswoman for Ohio Valley University, said the college was used as a living site for the hundreds of out-of-town electricians working to restore electrical service throughout the area.
"OVU had 20-200 electrical workers from Mon Power staying in dorms for 10 days," beginning right after the storm and ending July 11, she said. "These crews were dispatched to surrounding counties to help restore power."
Tom Perry, spokesman for Marietta College, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. On the college's web site officials announced power was partly returned to the campus on July 1, with full power restored July 2. Officials canceled summer classes and asked only for key personnel to return to work July 3. The campus was closed for the July 4 holiday but returned to regular hours July 5.
The web site did not mention any damage on campus or other storm-related issues.
In a newsletter sent out July 9, Washington State Community College President Bradley Ebersole said officials spent the weekend after the storm restoring operations at the college. Officials attempted to contact students and restore technology following county-wide power outages.
"I was out of town at the time and found it difficult to reach staff so as to assess the operational status at WSCC," Ebersole said in the newsletter. "I did eventually find ways to contact various individuals, and in consulting staff we made determinations as to closing the college for the following Monday (July 2). As the storm hit Friday (June 29) evening we had the weekend to work toward restoring continued operation."
No additional details were immediately available Monday.
