Hurricane Season

Home Sweet Home! 

A fun fact about me is that my first day of work here in the Office of Admission was July 5th, 2005, only two months before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. My first year on the road recruiting students was me working for a closed university in an uninhabitable city. You can imagine that most of the questions I got that fall were very hurricane-heavy. Since then, Tulane and New Orleans have made a remarkable recovery- far better and faster than anyone expected. You can read about it in a post I wrote a few years ago after the five year anniversary of Katrina. I don't get any post-Katrina questions anymore, but I still occasionally get questions about hurricanes in general. So, now that there already is a little tropical storm action out in the Atlantic, I thought I would take this time to share a few things about Tulane, New Orleans, and hurricanes. Let's do it in a FAQ style.

What does Tulane do in an emergency? First off, I can assure you, you will not find any school that is better prepared to handle hurricanes, or any type of emergency, than Tulane. We have been tried and tested, and have an emergency plan that is second to none. This emergency plan does not just apply to hurricanes either- any situation that can arise on campus and needs immediate student notification is done through our emergency notification system. Tulane has text message and e-mail blasts that will notify students and staff of any emergencies as well as phone calls and web updates. Our emergency website is set up to be the one stop info place. This site will always remain up as Tulane houses most of its network on an external server.

Hurricane Katrina. She was a doozie.

What about hurricane evacuations? Again, an area where Tulane has it down to a science. I evacuated twice when I was a college student, and since Katrina have evacuated once (in seven years) for Gustav back in 2008. When our students check into their residence halls each fall, they will fill out an evacuation card which basically just lists what they would plan on doing should a hurricane head towards our region. Most students will drive out of town with friends to a nearby southern city or stay with family out-of-state. Some will fly home. For students without a specific plan like this, Tulane has a partnership with The University of Alabama-Birmingham, where we will bus those students up to a residence hall on that campus where they will stay until it is safe to come back. Tulane students will generally evacuate New Orleans a full twenty four hours before the rest of the city usually does. So whether you plan your own evacuation or have us plan it for you, you will be completely accommodated. Last year, during Hurricane Isaac, students were able to stay on campus during the storm.  The good news about a hurricane is that, unlike an earthquake or a tornado, you have usually between 3-6 days to make any necessary plans. And talk about prepared- if you have a few free hours you can read all about Tulane's Hurricane Planning guide here. You can also read the abridged student version here.

Lake Borgne Surge Barrier. This makes me feel safe. 

So what about Hurricanes in New Orleans in general. Is the city prepared? Yes. We are. The city of New Orleans learned a lot from Hurricane Katrina, most of which are mistakes we will not make again. New evacuation plans were set up and the city no longer uses an in-town center of last resort. Instead, we have a comprehensive and effective evacuation plan that gets everyone out of town. More importantly, however, is the massive/intense/gigantic/vast/awe-inspiring hurricane protection system that has been constructed in New Orleans over the last eight years. A $14.5. billion, 133-mile system of pumps, levees, food gates and walls has been built to defend New Orleans against the 100-year storm, a.k.a. a storm that has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. The crown jewel of this civil engineering is the Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, which protects the city from the Gulf of Mexico storm surge and connects to the largest pumping station in the world. You can read a really fascinating article all about it from The New York Times.  Colonel Fleming from the Army Corps of Engineers claims that the system will be resilient up to the 500-year storm. I like the sound of that.

I am worried still though. I mean... I want to go to college somewhere where I don't have to worry about natural disasters. Well, first off let me tell you that anything can happen anywhere. Whether it be earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes, etc., there are few schools anywhere in America that are completely free from the threat of a natural disaster. It is just about being prepared and planning well; two things that Tulane does exceptionally well. Like I said, we get plenty of advance warning when a storm is headed our way. To top it off, while New Orleans was hit by the "big one" back in 2005, there are many other cities (and universities) that are just as likely, if not more likely to see a hurricane of that magnitude. Check out the chart I made below, complied from a USA Today's hurricane probability table. It shows the probability of any hurricane coming within 75 miles of a city in any one year. For example, New Orleans has a 12.5% percent chance of a hurricane in a year. So while there is a chance, it's not a big one. You're still at risk if you attend Brown, NYU or even Boston College! And I know my friends over in the University of Miami admissions will not dig that chart (sorry guys...)

So what if something as big as Katrina does happen in New Orleans again? First off, Katrina really was the 500 year storm. Could it happen again? Sure. Is that likely? Hopefully not for another 493 years! In all seriousness, in the nearly 175 years that Tulane has been in New Orleans, we have had to close down only one time for a hurricane, and that was Katrina. (Fun fact, the only other time Tulane completely shut its doors was during the Civil War). So while it could someday happen again, and we will be fully prepared for it, its extremely unlikely. And while I am on the subject, if there is one thing that I am truly a huge fan of, it is the United States Coast Guard. To this day, they still hold a truly special spot in the hearts of all New Orleans after the 24,135 lives they saved in New Orleans following Katrina.

Okay. I am feeling better now. Good! I am glad to hear it. We here at Tulane feel very well prepared and are confident in the city of New Orleans and all of the advancements in preparation it has made in the last seven years. You can feel safe and rest assured that you will be safe from any storm here at Tulane, so Roll Wave! (Not that kind...)