TAMPA, Fla. — In the wake of Hurricane Idalia, some businesses, schools and roads are back to business as usual while others are dealing with the ongoing threat of flooding and storm surge.
The University of South Florida on Wednesday afternoon announced its plans to reopen after shutting down all three campuses to prepare for the storm.
Both the USF Tampa campus — including USF Health downtown — and the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus will reopen on Thursday, Aug. 31, for classes to resume as normal.
USF Health will also resume normal clinical operations on Thursday, Aug. 31.
However, the USF St. Petersburg campus will remain closed with all classes, including online classes, canceled on Thursday with plans to reopen on Friday, Sept. The university said residence halls for the St. Petersburg campus should be open by the end of the day on Thursday.
Residence halls on the Tampa campus are open while residence halls on the St. Pete campus remain closed pending Pinellas County evacuation orders and an assessment by USF staff. Students will receive updates directly.
Students and staff members who left the region or have difficulty traveling back to campus due to storm-related issues are asked to contact their instructors or supervisors as soon as possible.
"Faculty members and supervisors are asked to be patient and understanding with their students and staff during these unique circumstances. Students, faculty and staff are urged to use caution when traveling back to campus," USF wrote in an update.
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