As the number of natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, and earthquakes continue to grow, this puts millions of people’s lives and livelihoods at risk. More and more people have been evacuated, and storms have caused billions of dollars in damage more than ever before. Last week’s Hurricane Florence was no exception. The Category 4 storm made landfall Friday, September 14th as a tropical depression, ripping through the shores of North Carolina and South Carolina. With maximum wind speeds recorded at 105 mph, Hurricane Florence flooded Wilmington, North Carolina and the surrounding area with 40 inches of rain leaving seventeen dead, one million people displaced from their homes, and over 600,000 without power.
A world away, a small liberal arts school in upstate New York geared up one of their most sought after games of this early fall season. Coming off a spectacular 2-0 start to the season with wins against Holy Cross and the University of New Hampshire, the Colgate football team, hungry to change that 2-0 to 3-0, continued to practice and watch film in preparation for their flight down south Friday evening.
As the Colgate football team prepared to play Furman University, located on the edge of the path of Hurricane Florence, the truth of the storm hit the media. The staff and administrators kept a close eye on the storm but decided on Wednesday that it would not be worth the trip. Head Coach Dan Hunt recognized the severity of the storm and those at risk, stating in an article posted by the Colgate Athletics page, “At the end of the day, you have to look at the big picture and that’s the safety of everyone involved. And by that I mean the teams and families but also the allotment of resources used for the game that could be better used somewhere else.” Hunt donated the team’s hotel rooms for those coming inland to take shelter. Additionally, the coach still purchased the team meals and allocated them to the people displaced by the storm.
As the storm continues to make its way inland and north, we hope that people stay safe. Hopefully those of us not directly impacted by the storm will continue to display acts of kindness, just as Coach Dan Hunt and the Colgate football team did this past week.