To the campus community:
As you are likely aware, Environment Canada has issued a Special Weather Statement advising that Hurricane Fiona is expected to bring severe weather to Halifax and the rest of Nova Scotia later this week. High winds and heavy rain are expected. The current time span of the storm is late Thursday to early Sunday.
The safety of students, faculty, and staff is our primary concern. We want to make you aware of some steps you should be taking in advance of this severe weather to ensure you’re prepared both at work and at home:
- Employees should ensure windows and doors are closed, and their computers are turned off before leaving work for the evening on both Thursday and Friday.
- Lab instructors and researchers should prepare their time-sensitive lab research in the event of a power outage.
- Sign up for Mount Alert, our mass notification system. Mount Alert is our primary means of notifying students, faculty and staff if the University is closed because of weather-related issues (it’s also our primary communications tool in the event of a major emergency on campus). You can receive an alert message to your cell phone via text, e-mail, and/or phone call. By default, alert messages will be sent to all students, faculty and staff via @msvu.ca email addresses.
- Download the MSVU SAFE app as updates will be posted there too.
- For your personal preparedness and safety, please see the Emergency Preparedness Guide.
We are monitoring the situation closely, ensuring plans are in place for our students living in residence, and for our campus facilities, and will keep you informed of any developments. In the event of a campus closure, we will post information on the Weather Centre page on the Mount’s website msvu.ca, Facebook (facebook.com/MountSaintVincentUniversity) and twitter (@MSVU_Halifax).
We thank you in advance as we work together to keep our community safe during storms.