Rice continues to monitor Hurricane Gustav

Rice continues to monitor Hurricane Gustav
 
FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

With Hurricane Gustav projected to hit the U.S. as early as Monday, Rice officials and Facilities, Engineering and Planning staff have taken cautionary preparations on campus and are monitoring the storm to see whether and how Houston may be affected. The university will be closed for Labor Day.

	NOAA.GOV
	Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center expect Gustav to be a category four hurricane when it hits the northern Gulf Coast.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center have issued a
hurricane warning for the northern Gulf Coast, from Cameron, La., to
the Alabama-Florida border. Gustav is expected to be a category four
hurricane by landfall.

Rice’s Crisis Management Team is monitoring the storm and will hold
another conference call Monday morning to review Gustav’s status and
discuss additional steps to prepare for it.

Students, faculty and staff should check www.rice.edu regularly for
updates and announcements about whether the university will reopen for
business Tuesday or close because of the storm. They should also make
sure their emergency contact information is updated on their Esther
account (esther.rice.edu) so they can receive messages from the Crisis
Management Team.

Rice faculty and staff should take steps to secure their own homes if
the storm strikes. Only employees designated as ”essential” should
report to campus if there is a storm. The campus is equipped to protect
the safety and welfare of its resident students but lacks space, food
and water to serve others.

In addition, do not call the Rice University Police Department for
updates, which will be available on rice.edu. The police department
needs to keep its dispatch lines available for emergency purposes.