10A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2006
SUNDAY'S STORM
Monday's midterms rescheduled
Professors reformat tests devise alternative plans
BY MELINDA RICKETTS
mricketts@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Sunday's microburst storm has forced professors with midterms scheduled for Monday to come up with alternative plans for giving their tests.
Scott Dicus, Kansas City,
Kan., senior, is in David Petr's
"Intro to Communication Systems" class in the School of Engineering. The midterm for the class was scheduled for Monday.
Dicus said that Petr, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, moved the test to a building on West Campus at the originally scheduled time, but then rescheduled it because of students' complaints. Students said that
Look online for more photos from Sunday's storm at kansan. com/galleries.
was out.
they didn't study for the test because they thought it was canceled.
Dicus said that he was unable to study for the test because his power
Petr said that there had been problems with students being prepared for the midterm because of the storm and the students' complaints were part of
the reason that it was moved back.
The collective humanities and western civilization midterm was scheduled for Monday evening. About 1,700 students, the combined number from the honors and regular sections, were expected to take the test.
David Dewar, assistant director of humanities and western civilization, said that the test was canceled and that the makeup exam for Wednesday had also been canceled. The policy for taking the exam will be determined by each instructor. Dewar said that most instructors were planning on having their students take a scaled-back version of the exam during regularly scheduled class times on Wednesday or Thursday.
"I don't think it's less effective," Dewar said, "just different."
He said that the honors section would most likely have a take-home test distributed by e-mail. All of those students would have the same due date.
Katherine Clark, assistant professor of humanities and western civilizations, said in an e-mail that because the honors section had a fixed guest-lecture format, it is not possible to alter the schedule
to fit in a makeup exam during a regularly scheduled class period. Tom Kimmel, Lawrence sophomore, is in the honors section of western civilization. Kimmel said that he studied as if the test was on Monday or Tuesday.
"There was just so much uncertainty surrounding the whole thing that I wasn't really sure what to do," he said.
KU spokeswoman Lynn Bretz said that if students had any issues or questions regarding midterms they would need to contact their professors.
Edited by Vanessa Pearson
Aid
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
As to when federal aid might be expected, the process to request it is still ongoing. According to Phillips, to request the aid, state damage assessment teams and University officials must conclude their damage assessments and turn those numbers and as much data as possible regarding the damage over to the governor's office.
The governor then takes that information and signs a request package for public disaster assistance and forwards it to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 7 offices in Kansas City, Mo.
A final decision is made at the FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as to whether federal aid will be given and how much aid will be distributed if it is granted.
Phillips said that a decision from FEMA could be made within a week after it was received at the FEMA headquarters.
Storm
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
On Thursday, street sweeping will begin in the downtown area and then move into residential areas. Fire Chief Mark Bradford said that the Fire and Medical Department was calm and back to normal Monday. On Sunday, 60 total staff members were out in the streets fighting fires, including a number of people who were off duty. The off-duty employees who were called in were paid overtime, but Patterson said money for overtime expenditures was included in the city budget.
Edited by Vanessa Pearson
"In Kansas, we know stuff like this is going to happen," Patterson said.
CLEAN-UP SERVICES
Residents weren't the only ones who lost power. On the KU campus, various residence halls, scholarship halls, sororities and fraterni-
At 4:30 p.m. Monday, 650 Lawrence residents were still without electricity. This was a drastic change from the 38,000 residents without electricity during the peak of the storm on Sunday. Olsen said about 164 employees were working on the restoration of power lines throughout the city.
If you live off campus and need help cleaning up after the storm, these city services can help:
- **To report tree limbs problems, call Parks and Recreation at 832-3450.**
- **To report signs blown down during the storm or to contact the woody debris drop-off at 1901 Wakarusa Dr., call 832-3123.**
- **To report structural damage, call Neighborhood Resource inspectors**
at 832-7700
For general insurance problems, call the Insurance Commissioner's office at 1-800-432-2484.
If you think you have been contacted by fraudulent representatives, call the Lawrence Police Department at 832-7650, who will work with the Kansas Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protec
Source: City of Lawrence
ties were without power at some point on Sunday. GSP-Corbin Hall did not have power until about 10 a.m. Monday. Desk assistants at GSP-Corbin said not many women stayed at the halls Sunday night. Many women stayed with friends who lived on Daisy Hill, at hotels or went home. Residence Halls on Daisy Hill were without power Sunday until about 11 a.m.
Rieger and K.K. Amini Scholarship Halls received electricity a little before 10 a.m., and Stephenson, Pearson and Sellards Scholarship Halls got power shortly after GSP-Corbin.
"Westar was replacing power lines until everyone got connected," Vince Avila, associate director of student housing maintenance, said. "They worked late into the night."
Some sororities and fraternites on West Campus Road experienced a power loss, Chi Omega sorority was without power, but members were able to stay at the Holidome Sunday night for free because of money that the sorority had budgeted in case of emergencies.
"Everything went really well, Mallory Hammersmith, president and Olathe sophomore, said. "It was nice to have that security of having a place available to stay."
She received a call Monday at 8 a.m. telling her the electricity was back on.
- Edited by Janiece Gatson
Microburst
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
The National Weather Service's storm prediction center reported winds of 76 mph at 8:11 a.m. Sunday morning, with another report of unknown wind speeds at 8:19 a.m. Hail up to 1.75 inches in diameter was reported west of Lawrence at 8:06 a.m.
I thought I saw a tornado. What's the difference?
Patrick Slattery, National Weather Service information officer, said tornadoes and funnel clouds, which are twisters that don't touch the ground, cause damage in a small corridor in a circular pattern.
Microbursts, such as the one Lawrence experienced Sunday morning, cause widespread damage and scatter debris along straight paths.
The damage can appear to be the same as that from a small tornado, but without the rotational influence.
"It's easy to get confused by shapes that are disguised within these storms," Slattery said.
According to initial weather service reports, there did not appear to be any tornadoes in Douglas County Sunday. Slattery said these reports were still being verified.
Microbursts are most common in conjunction with severe thunderstorms, which Holderbach said emphasized the importance of severe thunderstorm warnings.
"People need to realize that severe thunderstorms can cause significant damage," he said.
Severe thunderstorms can produce hail of .75 inches or more in diameter, tornados and winds of greater than 58 mph.
Isn't it a bit early for a severe storm?
The peak of severe weather activity in Kansas usually begins in April, but March storms are not uncommon, Holderbach said. The severe weather season usually ends in June.
Edited by Frank Tankard
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