Technology unites victims of Hurricane Irene, allows families to stay in touch

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Victims and their loved ones took emotional safety during Hurricane Irene by turning to technology to stay connected.

Central Michigan University graduate Christine Walsh Borst took cover for her first hurricane since moving to North Carolina to work on her Ph.D. at East Carolina University.

“I wasn’t really sure what to prepare for; my husband and I followed the directions for hurricane preparedness from radio, emails and TV,” she said. “We had plenty of bottled water, non-perishable food, flashlights, full gas tanks for the cars, along with books and games to keep ourselves occupied.”

The Greenville native communicated with her family through phone calls and text messages, although there was occasionally poor cell service.

“We were in frequent enough contact for them to know we were okay,” she said.

Hurricane Irene’s estimated $7 billion damage left 35 direct fatalities and 7 indirect, according to ABC News but Borst said her house was not as heavily affected as the outer banks around her, and did not lose power.

“Some neighbors didn’t do so well across from us,” she said. “I have seen big trees down, complete fences blown away, roofs damaged and siding ripped off houses.”

She said the hurricane forced ECU to shut down for two days for clean up and power restoration.

East Tawas senior Kaitlyn Haglund said her sailing team’s race was also delayed due to mother nature.

“My team was stuck in Rochester, N.Y. for the J22 Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship,” she said, “with race postponements due to 30 plus knots of wind and big roller waves crashing on shore.”

Haglund said she did not travel to the regatta because of class, but stayed updated with her team through text messaging and Facebook.

Technology was key for sophomore Blake Foster to stay in touch with his family in Portland, Maine.

“Luckily their cell phones were all charged and they have a laptop and an iPad so they can stay up to date,” he said. “I also saw on Twitter a lot of information from some of my old high school friends.”

He said his home was built prepared for storms because of its close location to the beach. However, he said, they rarely get any “hurricane strength” storms.