Campus Alert Archive
FSU

Campus stays closed beyond the state's mandate over fallen-tree and power-outage risk

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Confirmed Threat

On Thursday, September 7, 2017, Florida State University announced its main Tallahassee campus and all branch campuses would be closed Friday, September 8 through Friday, September 15 (a week-long closure) in response to Hurricane Irma. Governor Rick Scott had ordered all state universities to close ahead of the storm to ensure shelter capacity. FSU's closure extended beyond the gubernatorial mandate due to concerns about post-storm power outages, fallen trees, and continuing wind impact in the Tallahassee area, as warned on the FSU ALERT system at alerts.fsu.edu.

Alerts
13
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
Florida State University
Public R1 · FL
All FSU cases →
~41,700 studentsFSU ALERT
Official alert policy
Read when and how FSU says it will use FSU ALERT: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

13 messages in sequence · 10 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Wording not preserved

This message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.

FSU News: UPDATE Hurricane Irma (Sept 7, 2017 closure)
INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X+22 min
Verified verbatim93 chars
Hurricane Irma: FSU TO CLOSE FRIDAY THRU MONDAY. Go to http://alerts.fsu.edu for information.
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@FSUAlert on X (verbatim)x.comfind archived copies
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UPDATETwitter/X+1d
Verified verbatim80 chars
Hurricane Irma: Go to http://alerts.fsu.edu for the latest information from FSU.
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@FSUAlert on X (verbatim)x.comfind archived copies
Exact text from official @FSUAlert status 906533799063777281
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UPDATEEmail+1d
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This message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.

FSU News: UPDATE Hurricane Irma (Sept 9, 2017 extension)
UPDATETwitter/X+1d
Verified verbatim80 chars
FSU Closure Extended Thru FRI Sept 15 - go to http://alerts.fsu.edu for details.
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UPDATETwitter/X+1d
Verified verbatim96 chars
Hurricane Irma: FSU Facility opening Sunday for off-campus students. Go to http://alerts.fsu.edu
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@FSUAlert on X (verbatim)x.comfind archived copies
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UPDATETwitter/X+2d
Verified verbatim99 chars
Leon County announced nighttime curfews Sept 10, 11, 12 9pm-7am. See http://wtxl.com for more info.
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UPDATETwitter/X+2d
Verified verbatim99 chars
Shelter now before storm conditions worsen: 9pm Curfew to be in Effect go to http://alerts.fsu.edu.
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UPDATETwitter/X+3d
Verified verbatim74 chars
Hurricane Irma: Continue to shelter in place. Go to http://alerts.fsu.edu.
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@FSUAlert on X (verbatim)x.comfind archived copies
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UPDATETwitter/X+3d
Verified verbatim95 chars
Hurricane Irma: FSU Shelter in Place directive lifted. Go to http://alerts.fsu.edu for details.
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@FSUAlert on X (verbatim)x.comfind archived copies
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ALL CLEARTwitter/X+4d
Verified verbatim47 chars
Hurricane Irma: ALL CLEAR http://alerts.fsu.edu
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UPDATETwitter/X+6d
Verified verbatim138 chars
UPDATE I-75 TRAVEL ADVISORY: The Florida DOT reports Interstate 75 in north Florida will remain open. Go to http://alerts.fsu.edu for info
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Context

Background

Florida State University operates the FSU ALERT emergency notification system, delivering messages by text, email, and the @FSUAlert X/Twitter handle. Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that made first U.S. landfall in the Florida Keys as Category 4 (130 mph) at 9:10 AM EDT on September 10, 2017, and second landfall at Marco Island as Category 3 (115 mph) at 3:35 PM EDT the same day, prompted Governor Rick Scott to direct all Florida state universities, state colleges, and public K-12 schools to close from Friday September 8 through Monday September 11. FSU's initial closure matched that gubernatorial directive. As Irma's track shifted west and the storm tracked up the Florida peninsula as a tropical storm, Tallahassee (in the Panhandle, approximately 100 miles west of the eventual storm track) experienced sustained tropical-storm-force winds, widespread tree damage, and prolonged power outages. FSU extended its closure through Friday, September 15, five days beyond the gubernatorial mandate. All FSU campuses (Tallahassee, Panama City, and the FSU Real Estate Center in Sarasota) were closed; the FSU/FAMU football Classic scheduled for September 9 was canceled. Classes resumed Monday, September 18, 2017. The week-long closure is one of the longest hurricane-related FSU shutdowns in modern history, exceeded only by the COVID-19 closure of 2020. The Irma response established the FSU ALERT template later used for Hurricane Michael in 2018 (which devastated the FSU Panama City branch) and for the 2024 Helene/Milton sequence.
Analysis

Key Findings

FSU closed all campuses Friday September 8 through Friday September 15, 2017, a 10-calendar-day closure that is one of the longest hurricane-related FSU shutdowns in modern history
The initial Friday-through-Monday closure matched Governor Rick Scott's directive to all Florida state universities; FSU extended five additional days based on Tallahassee tree damage and power-outage risk
All FSU campuses (Tallahassee, Panama City, and the FSU Real Estate Center in Sarasota) were included; the FSU/FAMU football Classic on September 9 was canceled
Tallahassee experienced its strongest sustained winds Monday night September 11 as Irma passed approximately 100 miles to the east as a tropical storm
Classes resumed Monday, September 18, 2017 — 10 days after initial closure
The Irma response established the FSU ALERT template later used for Hurricane Michael (2018) (which devastated the FSU Panama City branch) and for the 2024 Helene/Milton sequence
Provenance

Sources

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Official
    UPDATE: Hurricane Irma - Florida State University News
    news.fsu.edu
    archived copy
  2. Official
    FSU Alert
    alerts.fsu.edu
    archived copy
  3. social media
    FSU Alert (@FSUAlert) on X
    x.com
    archived copy
  4. Official
    About the FSU ALERT Emergency Notification & Warning System
    emergency.fsu.edu
    archived copy
  5. News
    FAMU, FSU keeping a close eye on Hurricane Irma (WCTV)
    wctv.tv
    archived copy
  6. encyclopedia
    Hurricane Irma (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
    archived copy
  7. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma initial seq4
    x.com
    archived copy
  8. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq5
    x.com
    archived copy
  9. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq6
    x.com
    archived copy
  10. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq7
    x.com
    archived copy
  11. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq8
    x.com
    archived copy
  12. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq9
    x.com
    archived copy
  13. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq10
    x.com
    archived copy
  14. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma all-clear seq11
    x.com
    archived copy
  15. Social
    @FSUAlert Irma update seq12
    x.com
    archived copy
  16. Social
    @FSUAlert 906533799063777281
    x.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Florida State University: Campus stays closed beyond the state's mandate over fallen-tree and power-outage risk." Incident of September 7, 2017. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/fsu-hurricane-irma-2017-09-07/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
hurricanehurricane-irmacampus-closurefloridatallahasseefsu-alert2017-hurricane-seasonpublic-r1gubernatorial-directive
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion