By Matt Kelly

Nov. 14, 2003 — There is an empty space in the grass along University Avenue, between Brooks Hall and the Rotunda — a flat, re-seeded area where a white oak tree had once stood for 190 years. The tree, a sapling when the first students entered Mr. Jefferson’s University, was a victim of Hurricane Isabel.

There are other scars on Grounds — uprooted stumps, suddenly open spaces — minor damage mostly. The University escaped relatively unscathed, physically, though the storm cost it about $1.1 million in lost revenues and $500,000 in damages and clean-up costs.

“We were lucky,” said Susan G. Harris, assistant to Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “No one was seriously injured. There were a lot of trees down, but there was no real damage to historic buildings. I think we are pretty fortunate.”

Arborist Jerome F. Brown recited from memory the trees lost. Among those blown down were a large red oak near Gilmer Hall, several trees around the intersection of McCormick and Alderman roads, and a large, hollow oak tree near Copeley Hill.

This Kentucky coffee tree fell near Pavilions I and II, damaging a serpentine wall.

The University also lost two Kentucky coffee trees, one near the Faulkner dorms and the other in the Pavilion I garden. That latter tree grazed Pavilion III when it fell, breaking a rain gutter. A section of Pavilion I’s serpentine wall, which had been pushed out of place by the normal growth of a willow oak tree, had already been taken down, and the coffee tree damaged a small section of wall next to the removed section. University Landscape Architect Mary V. Hughes said the coffee tree will be replaced.

There were only two trees Brown had to climb to remove limbs, he said. The rest were uprooted from the rain-saturated soil.

Many trees survived because the University has kept up maintenance, pruning damaged and diseased branches and trimming trees in a way that lets the wind pass through, Brown said.

“They were all valuable yard trees,” he said of those felled by the storm. “But they have such a crown, exposed to the wind. With some, there was hidden decay.”

The trees are not included in loss figures compiled by the Office of Risk Management. Director Richard F. Schupp estimated the storm caused about $1.1 million in lost revenues.

About $937,000 of that loss came from the hospital. Lawrence L. Fitzgerald, associate vice president for finance and chief financial officer of the Medical Center, said much of the hospital’s loss came through a drop-off in out-patient business.

“We looked at revenue normally recorded versus what was recorded the week of the hurricane,” Fitzgerald said. “Revenue is clearly down in the out-patient end of the operation.”

In-patient care, including surgery, went on as scheduled, Fitzgerald said.

“We had significant staff that stayed all night to make sure the operation stayed running calmly,” he said. “We did a full-court press to help the doctors and nurses and see that patient care was not reduced in any manner.”

Marjorie L. Sidebottom, emergency management chairman for the Health System, said hospital personnel coped well with the storm.

“The Medical Center did a good job of mitigation,” she said. “In preparing, we all had the gift of time, so we coordinated between the Health System and the University.”

Sidebottom said the Medical Center implemented its inclement weather plan, devised after last winter’s storms, and relied on its own generators for electricity from 5 p.m. on Sept. 18 to 4:01 a.m. Sept 19. She worked closely with Dominion Virginia Power to get full power restored.

The operating room functioned normally and scheduled surgeries went ahead as planned, she said. Patients were invited to come to the hospital early.

“There were three babies born, and we saw 64 people in the emergency room,” she said.

Emergency room personnel treated many hurricane-related injuries in the days following the storm, many of them involving people who had gotten hurt as they cleared away debris. Eighteen students were treated for hurricane-related injuries.

Sports facilities also suffered damage from Isabel.

A tree fell on the Slaughter Recreation Center, puncturing the rubberized roof and letting water onto the wooden gymnasium floor, said Mark E. Fletcher, director of Intramural-Recreational Sports. The 20-year-old roof may need to be replaced, he said, and bids are being reviewed for floor repair. A falling tree demolished a chain-link fence at the Perry-Fishburne tennis courts near the Dell. The courts may also have to be resurfaced, he said.

The Poplar Ridge ropes course lost a storage shed to one of several trees that fell.

IM Sports lost a $1,700 equipment shed at the Poplar Ridge ropes challenge course when a poplar tree fell on it. The shed, which had been in place less than a week, was empty. The course, which Fletcher said is used for team-building exercises, was not shut down, despite several downed trees.

Fletcher said several trees were also lost at the North Grounds Recreation Center.
Jason D. Bauman, associate athletic director, said 10 of 75 outdoor television sets were ruined in Scott Stadium’s luxury boxes. The cover of the filming deck, about mid-field at the stadium, also disappeared in the wind.

Bauman said the University’s playing fields absorbed a lot of water, but were not damaged.

“I thought we came through it pretty good,” Bauman said.

Schupp said some of the $500,000 in damages and clean-up costs may be covered by insurance or assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“There is no sense yet how much is covered,” Schupp said.