The University of South Florida has canceled classes at all campus’ for Thursday, September 1. The announcement was made Wednesday evening after Hillsborough and Manatee Counties had already announced public schools would be closed as well. This morning Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for 42 counties within Florida this morning.
The announcement comes after the university had initially said classes would run as scheduled during Tropical Storm Hermine. A fake email was even sent out from USF-St. Pete saying classes were canceled. But USF spokesman, Adam Freeman, confirmed the email was not sent by USF communications and was untrue.
It wasn’t until later in the evening that USF went ahead and canceled classes due to the storm system that would be moving through the Bay Area. Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota-Manatee are closed for the whole day Thursday.
Evening classes scheduled for Wednesday, August 31 will still be held as normal. USF urges students and facility that are attending these evening classes to drive with caution to and from campus.
Only essential personnel are to report to campus on Thursday. Employees who are uncertain if they are designated as essential should contact their supervisors as soon as possible.
The USF Health South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare and other south Tampa clinics will be closed on Thursday. The USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Health Care will remain open on Thursday.
Physicians and residents assigned to hospital duty are considered essential and should report to work on Thursday. They should also check their www.health.usf.edu accounts to check work schedules for Friday, September 2.
As of now all campus’ are expected to open back up on Friday and classes will run as scheduled.
Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened while in the Gulf, with wind speeds picking up to 45 mph.The system is expected to bring heavy rainfalls to the Bay Area causing area flooding. Gusty winds can also be expected from the storm.