Johns Hopkins monitoring Hurricane Florence, making preparations

Johns Hopkins University is monitoring the progress of Hurricane Florence, the massive Category 4 storm barreling toward the U.S. East Coast with winds in excess of 140 mph, and preparing for potential impacts to its campuses and operations in the Baltimore-Washington region.

The current forecast calls for Florence to make landfall somewhere in the Carolinas on Friday and to bring high winds, rain, and a storm surge to the Baltimore area beginning Friday and through the weekend. Downed power lines and loss of power are also possible.

In a message sent Tuesday afternoon, Jonathan Links, vice provost and chief risk and compliance officer; Robert McLean, vice president for facilities and real estate; and Melissa Hyatt, vice president for security, urged the university community to make preparations in advance of the storm and shared information about ongoing readiness activities at the university.

"We are experienced in handling this type of weather and its consequences and do not foresee significant impacts to the university," they wrote. "Even so, you will see facilities and other departments engaging in preparedness activities this week, out of an abundance of caution."

The university has a meteorologist on retainer and is in ongoing communication with him, they added.

Additionally:

• Information about emergency situations or interruptions to university operations can be found at jhu.edu/alert
• Members of the university community can sign up to receive emergency alerts via text by going to my.jh.edu, logging in with their JHED ID and password, and going to "My Profile/Emergency Alerts"
• Students, particularly those living in campus housing, can find more information about emergency preparation on the Homewood Student Affairs website

Standard guidance for impending weather emergencies is to ensure that you have enough non-perishable food and water for several days, flashlights and batteries, medications, and other essentials. Additional guidance on hurricanes, power outages, flooding, and other events is available on ready.gov.