UPDATES: Hurricane Florence's Impact On Limestone College's Day Campus

UPDATE AS OF SEPT. 18 @ 9:00 A.M.

Limestone College's Day Campus in Gaffney is now operating on a regular schedule. Evening Program classes will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 18 in all locations across the state of South Carolina, with the exception of the Florence site that will re-open on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

Day Campus students who might have gone home due to Hurricane Florence and cannot return to campus on Sept. 18 should contact their professors in regard to making up work. Evening Program students who might not be able to attend classes on Sept. 18 due to the impact of the hurricane should contact their instructors as well.

Online Program students who might be without electricity and/or internet service should contact their instructors as soon as they can after those services are restored.

UPDATED AS OF SEPT. 18 @ 8:00 A.M.

Limestone College's Day Campus in Gaffney is operating on a regular schedule on Tuesday, September 18.

UPDATED AS OF SEPT. 14 @ 11:57 A.M.

The following is an update on Limestone College’s Day Campus in Gaffney concerning Hurricane Florence.

The decision was made during the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 12, to cancel Day Campus classes in Gaffney on Friday, Sept. 14, and Monday, Sept. 17. Although heavy rains and winds were not forecasted for Friday in the area around Limestone College, classes were cancelled in order to allow students an extra day to travel home for the weekend if they wanted to do so. Although very severe weather is not expected in Gaffney on Monday, classes were cancelled so students, faculty, and staff would not have to navigate campus in potential heavy rains.

Despite classes being cancelled for those two days, Limestone College’s Day Campus has not been evacuated and there are no plans for any type of evacuation in our area at this time. Limestone’s campus is open and currently functioning normally, except for the class cancellations and modified dining hours.

Today (Friday, Sept. 14), we have partly sunny skies on campus with an expected high of 86 degrees and only a 20 percent chance of rain this evening. On Saturday, Sept. 15, we expect a high of 77 degrees with a 90 percent chance of rain and winds could reach 20 miles per hour. On Sunday, Sept. 16, the forecast is for a high of 72 degrees with a 100 percent chance of rain and winds up to 25 miles per hour. On Monday, Sept. 17, temperatures should reach 84 degrees with a 60 percent chance of rain and winds at about 8 miles per hour. The chance of rain is expected to diminish to a 10 percent chance by Monday evening. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, the forecast is calling for a high of 88 degrees with sunny skies and only a 20 percent chance of rain and light winds.

For students remaining on campus, Limestone College’s food service will continue to operate with slightly modified hours in the Stephenson Dining Hall. Today, brunch will be from 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. and dinner will be from 5 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Those respective hours will be 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Sunday, and 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Monday. Tuesday hours will be evaluated depending on the weather.

Even in the event of a power outage, Limestone will make provisions to make sure students receive meals. If the College were to lose power (possibly due to downed power lines in the area because of the wind), the Campus Security Office and other Limestone personnel will conduct a building-to-building “fire watch” tour – meaning assigned security and staff will continuously walk the entire affected area for any signs of problems. If there were to be an electrical outage on campus, local emergency services agencies have informed the College that normal water service should continue. 

Limestone’s SubConnection and Starbucks in the Dixie Lodge have both closed as part of the modified dining schedule and both are expected to re-open on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.

As a precautionary measure, the College’s Resident Assistants and Resident Directors are now on duty 24 hours a day in the residence halls. Limestone’s Campus Security is also on duty around the clock.

All Limestone College athletic activities will be suspended after tonight (Friday, Sept. 14) and through Monday. A modified athletics schedule can be found at www.GoLimestoneSaints.com.

For recreation purposes, Limestone’s Timken East building will be open Friday-Monday from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. Those hours could be altered due to the weather.

Limestone officials will continue to monitor the situation with Hurricane Florence throughout the weekend, and if there is a need to cancel or modify classes on Tuesday, Sept. 18, students will be notified via the Limestone Alert System, emails, and messages on our www.limestone.edu website and our social media pages including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

There are currently over 300,000 people without power along the coastal areas of South Carolina and North Carolina, but the Upstate area of South Carolina where Limestone College is located is not expected to feel such harsh impacts from the hurricane.

Hurricane Florence made landfall just south of Wilmington, NC, early Friday morning. It is now expected to slowly slide south toward Myrtle Beach today. Tonight into Saturday, it will begin to move west toward the Upstate and western North Carolina. The latest track shows the system either moving directly over the Upstate or slightly east of the Upstate.

If the storm moves directly over the Upstate, the Limestone area could get possibly 4 to 8 inches of rain. However, if it moves farther east toward Charlotte, NC, our area will end up with much less rain, in the range of 1 to 2 inches. On the west side of the storm system, the rainfall totals are expected to shut down quickly.

If there is a heavy amount of rain and gusty winds, our area could have some power outages beginning Saturday. If that were to occur, Limestone officials will implement an action plan, as noted above, to keep our students and our campus safe.

Limestone students with safety concerns can contact Campus Security at (864) 488-8344. In the event of an emergency, students should first call 9-1-1.