Hurricane Helene hit American land on the morning of September 27, 2024. It took Florida, making a name for itself as a category one hurricane. Helene made quick work of Florida and is heading through Georgia quickly. The storm is expected to be in Tennessee later tonight. Although we are in Kentucky, just under 900 miles from Florida, we feel its effects nonetheless.
On the afternoon of September 26th, Lex18 released a list of schools closed in Kentucky. Although many districts around the state, including our neighboring districts Jessamine and Woodford, closed, Fayette County Public Schools remained open. Throughout the day, many private schools in the district closed. Private schools such as Lexington Christian Academy and Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary closed today because of the inclement weather.
At Lafayette, we fought to stay open throughout the day, and in a brief interview with the front desk staff, they spoke about how their systems were down. “We [haven’t] been able to track [the number of students checking out] because the system is down and everything is paper.” The Times asked them to estimate how many students checked out throughout the day. Between responses of “..too many” and “more every minute,” one of the secretaries stated, “most likely seventy or more.”
In passing, The Times spoke to Dr. Morales, an administrator at Lafayette. She informed The Times that we were not operating off of generator power, although there were rumors that we were. In the main office, The Times was also informed that there were leaks throughout the school. Lafayette students know how the ceilings leak during regular storms. Still, with today’s severe weather conditions, several classrooms could not be used due to leaks, and many windows were also leaking around the edges.
A brief survey found that a third of Lafayette students have lost power in their homes. In an interview with Sophomore Kayla Doctrow, she told The Times that her home lost power at about 1:00 p.m. Although she wasn’t aware of any physical damages, she was sure that she would suffer a loss from the perishables stored at her home.
English teacher Ms. McPherson also shared that if she hadn’t had a family member home, she would have lost expensive refrigerated medicine due to the power outage. Throughout the day, McPherson shared many photos with The Times of trees downed in the areas around the school.
The Lexingtonky.gov website reported road closures throughout the day. Some notable road closures include W High Street between S Mill ST and S Broadway. This road was closed due to a large tree following. It is currently closed through October 1st for tree removal. Another closed road is Wilson Downing Rd between Nicholsville Rd and Dartmouth Dr. The website states that one lane is blocked for tree-clearing work and that the road will be closed until October 4th.
As this storm fights through the states, we are glad that fall break is near and most will be able to ride it out in their own homes. Stay dry!
