Students, parents concerned about Savannah State’s response to Helene power outages
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV)—The lights finally came back on at Savannah State University (SSU) Monday night after several days without power because of Hurricane Helene.
Now, some students and parents are expressing concerns about the school's handling of the outages.
The school lost power overnight Thursday and didn't get it back until Sunday night.
Some students weren't able to leave before that.
"I'm from New York...So it's more so like, 'oh man,' I have family nearby that I can run to but it's more, so I have to call, do all of that check in. And for that I'd rather just bunker down and stay somewhere I know," Javier Rosado, a sophomore, said.
People have voiced concerns online about people's ability to evacuate when they don't have anywhere to go.
"I live about three and a half hours away, and I would also have to call people. Even then, I don't know if I'd have somewhere to stay," Anwar Jackson, also a sophomore at SSU said.
One parent took to social media to voice her concerns, writing an open letter to the university.
"The flights were delayed, greyhound was closed, and it just was a disaster. I just felt like we need answers as parents," Adriane, author of the letter, told News 3.
Students described the experience in the days after the storm as challenging.
Power outages cause frustrations in Savannah
"We're near the coast, obviously, right near a marsh," Lorenzo Washington, another student said. "So, it got very humid very quick in the dorms. It was almost impossible to sleep, no how water, pitch black around the campus aside from a few lights. We got some streetlights a day later, but it definitely was not fun."
Starting on Saturday, students said they started to receive some guidance from the university via email.
On social media, Savannah State made posts about when they would be serving food and where charging and cooling stations would be.
However, students told WSAV there were only a few locations on campus that had electricity, which is where they said many of them banded together.
"There were two rooms, but in those two rooms, it got really, really, really packed, and it got really, really hot," Rosado said.
A big issues for students, like others who have been without power was the heat from no air conditioning.
"One of the science buildings, it had power the whole time," Jackson said. "So, it was kind of fun being in there, getting to talk to people, getting to see how people were living. There were people who camped out in different rooms just because the rooms were incredibly hot."
Students said that they're grateful to have power back on now, especially when several people News 3 spoke to in the surrounding neighborhood were still waiting for the lights to come back on. Some were searching for something as simple as a tarp to put over their roof with so many stores sold out.
"No cell service, splotchy internet, and of course power, and the heat, " Paul Alexander, who lives nearby, said.
"Two big holes in our roof from obviously the trees," he continued.
Parents are now asking what happens next time a storm comes through the area.
"My question to them is what is the plan for the president of Savannah State University," parent Adriane asked. "What is her plan? What is her solution, not just to evacuate because what about the kids that cannot evacuate?"
In their latest update the university said, "SSU is continuing campus clean-up and assessing and implementing the best solutions to support our students and the SSU campus community."
