NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Loyola University has initiated the first steps of its Hurricane Preparedness Plan by informing students, faculty and staff to begin reviewing their personal evacuation plans for the potential Hurricane, Gustav.
Loyola’s Office of Public Affairs said the university will continue to monitor the storm and asks that faculty and students regularly check the Loyola Web site or call the university hotline (504-865-2186) for further updates.
Vice President of Student Affairs Cissy Petty said in a campus-wide e-mail: “In the event of an evacuation, the university will not close; however, it will temporarily suspend operations on campus. Academic instruction will continue in a distance-learning mode via Blackboard. Also, be aware that Loyola has an off-site recovery center at a facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, a suburb between Dallas and Ft. Worth. In the event of an extended evacuation, this facility will accommodate Loyola emergency operations until we can get back to the university campuses.”
The potential Category 3 hurricane may move into the New Orleans area Monday, according to the National Hurricane Service in Miami. Currently Gustav has been downgraded to tropical storm status; however, experts in Miami expect it to rise back to hurricane status over the next 48 hours.
Forecasters warned that Gustav could grow into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane in the next several days and hit somewhere along a swath of the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle to Texas – with New Orleans smack in the middle.
Taking no chances, city officials began preliminary planning to evacuate and lock down the city in hopes of avoiding the catastrophe that followed the 2005 storm. Mayor Ray Nagin left the Democratic National Convention in Denver to return home for the preparations.
If a Category 3 or stronger hurricane comes within 72 hours of the city, New Orleans plans to institute a mandatory evacuation order. Unlike Katrina, there will be no massive shelter at the Superdome, a plan designed to encourage residents to leave. Instead, the state has arranged for 700 buses to take people to safety.
Since the storm, the Army Corps of Engineers has spent billions of dollars to improve the levee system, but because of two quiet hurricane seasons, the flood walls have never been tested.
Floodgates have been installed on drainage canals to stop any storm surge from entering the city, and levees have been raised and in many places strengthened with concrete. But they are not built to withstand a storm stronger than Katrina.
Gustav formed Monday and roared ashore Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane near the southern Haitian city of Jacmel with top winds near 90 mph, toppling palm trees and flooding the city’s Victorian buildings.
The storm triggered flooding and landslides that killed at least 11 people in the Caribbean. It weakened into a tropical storm and appeared headed for Cuba, though it is likely to grow stronger in the coming days by drawing energy from warm open water.
Scientists cautioned that the storm’s track and intensity were difficult to predict several days in advance.
But in New Orleans, there was little else to do except prepare as if it were Katrina. The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was set to begin moving animals in shelters to Baton Rouge on Thursday, and more would go to Texas shelters on Friday and Saturday.
“We definitely don’t want to wait until Saturday or Sunday to decide what to do,” said Ana Zorrilla, director of the pet-rescue group.
The oil market also reacted to the threat. Oil prices jumped above $119 a barrel as workers began to evacuate from the offshore rigs responsible for a quarter of U.S. crude production. Any damage to the oil infrastructure or Gulf Coast refineries could send U.S. pump prices spiking, possibly before the busy Labor Day weekend.
“A bad storm churning in the Gulf could be a nightmare scenario,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “We might see oil prices spike $5 to $8 if it really rips into platforms.”
Many residents hadn’t yet made a decision about leaving. Lawson “Sonny” Brannan, a construction company owner, was busy renovating a client’s home Wednesday, just blocks from where a levee was breached in the Lakeview neighborhood. A wall of water up to 15 feet deep wiped out the home.
Brannan calmly went about his business, but nonetheless kept a watchful eye on the weather.
“I’m not going to worry about it until I see it in the Gulf,” he said. “Then I’ll make my decisions.”
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Associated Press Writer Tamara Lush reported from Miami. AP writers Cain Burdeau, Mary Foster and Alan Sayre contributed to this report from New Orleans. Maroon writer Steve Heath also contributed.
