His racial comments 'kicked/whipped/stirred up a storm' in the newspapers. [=newspapers criticized his racial comments very strongly]
The college was quiet that morning, but it was 'the calm before the storm'. Thousands of students would arrive later.
Newspapers have 'weathered the storm' of online information by providing news online themselves.
(..) - Really? - Oh, yeah. Think I should move to the south of France, change my name to Vincent? You ever heard the sayin', "any port in a storm"? - Yeah. - Yeah. Maybe that means you. In what way? - Uh, maybe you're in the middle of a storm, a big fuckin' storm. - Yeah, maybe. (..)1997 Good Will Hunting