August 31, 2015

UW Responds to Historic Summer Storm

On August 29, 2015, due to what weather experts have now classified as “the strongest summer storm in Northwest history” the UW’s emergency response and recovery system went into action.  The UWEM team, and scores of other dedicated staff from UW Police, IT, Facilities, Housing and Food Services, UW Medicine, and campus media and web communications staff, all immediately responded to protect the campus.  The high winds and rain caused storm-related region0wide power outages, damage to landscaping and structures as well as minor flooding.  The UW’s Emergency Operations Center was activated to respond to ensure that public safety issues were prioritized and addressed and to facilitate the sharing of incident information between the campus, city and utility crews and the campus community.