Expect the unexpected, say college disaster prep officials

For college administrators, extreme weather is yet another hazard to prepare and practice for on a list that includes infectious disease outbreaks, active shooters and technological outages.

With more than 20 million students enrolled at 7,200 U.S. colleges and universities, higher education leaders say they rely on experience and expertise to think beyond the basics of food and shelter to the special challenges of academia, including keeping students and parents informed, accounting for students, both international and from this country, not easily evacuated, and continuing instruction and research.

Riding out Hurricane Matthew in her off-campus apartment in October, East Carolina University student Bobbie Jordan Thomas worried that her final semester plans were washing away with the floodwater that, before her eyes, was swallowing and destroying her beloved Toyota Corolla.

While the campus suffered mostly minor damage from Matthew, leaders found positioning representatives from the dean's office, student store, health services and other departments in one place was helpful for students, faculty and staff.

Don't think that things can't happen, said Donald Keith, emergency preparedness director at the University of Alabama, where a 2011 tornado just missed a direct hit but laid bare, among other details, the need for a system to accept and distribute donations of money and supplies offered by well-wishers.