It will be available on the website in a day or so, but you read it here first!

Okay, so the fact that my article will only be in the online version of the Point Weekly and not this week's print version because we only ran eight pages and my story was not deemed important enough to warrant publication is not that exciting. But I did put time and effort into it, so please appreciate it for all it's worth.

Students Weather the Storms
By Kaitlin Barr



[David Kruckenberg and Elizabeth Unruh in Grass Valley, Calif., on January 5, 2008. Photo courtesy David Kruckenberg]

Rain and snow battered northern California last week as some PLNU students returned to campus. Major roads were closed and more than two million people lost power as a series of winter storms hit the West Coast.

“There were multiple storms, just raging gusts of winds, 100 mph, highly destructive,” said David Kruckenberg, junior.

Kruckenberg was visiting freshman Elizabeth Unruh in Grass Valley, east of Sacramento, when the storms began.

“The worst part was worrying that the wind was going to knock things down,” Kruckenberg said. “Power was knocked out for a day and a half.”

Likewise, Brenna Bowers, a freshman from Santa Rosa, lost power and water for two days. She described in an e-mail “waking up suddenly to the howling winds and having fear of the trees outside my window crashing down because of the strong winds and rain.”

Bowers drove back to school with freshman Stephanie Gant.

“Some streets were closed for flooding,” Gant said. “It made driving a bit more scary.”

In addition to flooded streets, fallen trees and downed power lines threatened the travelers. Bowers said, “It ended up taking [two to three] hours longer because of the rain but God graciously gave my friend and I a safe trip.”

Kruckenberg and Unruh had also planned to drive back to school, but Grass Valley had received too much snow.

“There were trees broken down and roof damage to some buildings,” said Kruckenberg.

They decided to fly back instead.