By Dalton Lord
Contributing Writer
Last weekend, Western New York received a tornado warning on Saturday night and then later a flood warning on Sunday morning.
St. Bonaventure has experienced two floods in its history. The first was on July 19, 1942 and the second one was June 23, 1972. Even though it hasn’t experienced a flood in over 40 years, the university will be ready for one if it receives another warning.
Gary Segrue, St. Bonaventure’s director of safety and security, explained that the security team has four methods of informing faculty and staff of severe weather.
One method is emailing students and faculty ahead of time. Another one is through the use of the steam whistle. Segrue explained that when the steam whistle shoots out smoke, it informs people around campus of the upcoming dangerous conditions, including floods.
Segrue said the other two ways of tackling severe weather Bonaventure’s safety and security team may deal with are the e2Campus system and the Cisco Phone system.
The e2Campus system provides notifications and updates to its users through text messages and local radio and television stations. The Cisco Phone system sends its dispatchers updates on a certain situation in a voicemail type of manner. Both systems provide immediate news about emergencies, which include severe weather, and advise their users on what to do and how to stay safe in the tough conditions.
Segrue said he feels confident about how prepared the safety and security team is for heavy weather.
“I’m going to make a few tweaks, but I feel relatively good about everything,” Segrue said.
Students shared how safe they feel under the team’s protection. One of those people is Makayala Miller, a freshman education major, who felt a sense of assurance of Bonaventure’s security.
“I feel good about them. They seem to have control over everything,” Miller said.
Warren Mayenga, a freshman journalism and mass communication major, said he thinks Bonaventure’s safety and security system is good, seeing as how everything around him doesn’t look threatening so far.
“As long as everything here looks good, it’s okay,” Mayenga said.
lorddj16@bonaventure.edu
