Up until five o’clock on Friday, October 4, all classes at the Boone and Hickory campuses have been canceled. Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall Thursday night along the coast of the Florida Big Bend. According to NOAA, “damaging” wind gusts are predicted to affect the Appalachians’ higher terrain in particular and are predicted to pass across the area on Friday morning at around 8 a.m. Watauga County and the neighboring areas had strong gusts and rain earlier on Thursday. As the hurricane moves closer to the area, more rain—roughly 6 to 8 inches—is predicted to fall.
Classes at App State Boone and Hickory from 12:15 p.m. on Thursday through 5 p.m. on Friday were transferred online at 6:24 a.m. on Thursday. For App State teachers and staff, Condition 2 of the Adverse Weather Policy went into effect. According to the App State Athletics website, “severe impacts to App State, the town of Boone and surrounding areas caused by Hurricane Helene” led to the cancellation of the App State football game versus Liberty on Saturday. A number of additional App State activities were postponed or cancelled, including the Founders Day Celebration and App State 125th Anniversary, as well as a number of Fall Family Weekend events, including the Tailgate with The Campus Store.
A water main break occurred at 12:56 p.m. on Friday, prompting the Town of Boone to issue a boil water alert. It is recommended that all water used for human consumption be brought to a boil. Because of the hazardous driving conditions, Watauga County, the Towns of Boone and Blowing Rock, and others imposed a curfew on Friday night, which was in effect from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. until further notice. Due to the bad weather, AppalCart announced route adjustments starting on Friday.
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