As I write this, Hurricane Irene is working its way up the east coast, heading for New York City. This just two days after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck in Mineral, Virginia, rattling buildings from Atlanta to Toronto. For me, this was the first time I had ever felt an earthquake. I was sitting in my office when my chair started moving, and then I realized the whole building was swaying. I looked at my secretary (who also noticed her chair moving from side to side) and said "we're having an earthquake." By the time I could decide whether or not to leave the building, the swaying had stopped. It didn't take long to confirm that we had, indeed, experienced a rare east coast earthquake. What could top that?
How about a hurricane? Hurricane Irene is expected to strike Connecticut late Saturday night and Sunday with 75-80 mph winds, a storm surge of up to 10 feet along the shoreline and rainfall that could be in the 5-10 inch range. How much damage it causes, and how it will affect everyone's daily routine here on campus remains to be seen. But no doubt, these are interesting times....
