Vitter, Melancon secure easy victories, party nominations in primaries, p. 3
Reveille Board of Sups approves Kirby-Smith renovation, operating budget, p. 3
The Daily
Volume 115, Issue 6
www.lsureveille.com
Deangelo Peterson recalls flooding of NO home, p. 9 Monday, Aug. 30, 2010
5 Years After Katrina
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Levees broke, streets flooded and more than 1,800 people died. Thousands more were forced from their homes. Five years later, its effects still haunt us. DAVID J. PHILLIP / The Associated Press
Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2005. After the levees broke under the Category 3 winds, 80 percent of the city flooded in the days after the storm.
President commits to Gulf University reflects on role Coast revival after disasters during Katrina 5 years later Obama: Katrina aftermath a ‘man-made catastrophe’ The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Five years after Hurricane Katrina’s wrath, President Barack Obama sought to reassure disasterweary Gulf Coast residents Sunday that he would not abandon their cause. “My administration is going to stand with you and fight alongside you until the job is done,” Obama said to cheers at Xavier University, a historically black, Catholic university that was flooded by the storm. The president said there are still too many vacant lots, trailers serving as classrooms, displaced residents and people out of work. He said New Orleanians have showed amazing resilience.
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‘My administration is going to stand with you and fight alongside you until the job is done.’ Barack Obama President
“Because of you,” the president declared, “New Orleans is coming back.” Obama spoke five years after Hurricane Katrina roared onshore in Louisiana, tearing through levees and flooding 80 percent of New Orleans. More than 1,800 people along the Gulf Coast died. Hardship struck again this year in the form of the BP oil spill. More than 200 OBAMA, see page 8
Hurricane provided opportunities for LSU Catherine Threlkeld Staff Writer
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and created the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. But its aftermath allowed University students, faculty, staff and facilities to shine. Evacuees in Baton Rouge created an opportunity for the University to serve as a hospital, enroll New Orleans’ students and provide volunteer efforts for the needy. TRANSFER STUDENTS University Registrar Robert Doolos said the University had to be flexible to accommodate students who transferred from universities in New Orleans. “We had to break a lot of the normal
rules in order to help these students,” Doolos said. “School was the only piece of normality that was left for them. And it was something they could hang on to.” The University canceled classes for a week, but admitted 3,768 students during that time. “We had to find a way to register them without getting any money up front. We had to register students without any records,” Doolos said. Of the students admitted, 2,700 were enrolled on the 14th day of class. Sixtytwo percent of the transfers were from the University of New Orleans, 13 percent from Tulane University and the remainder from Loyola University, Xavier University, Dillard University and other New Orleans schools, Doolos said. DeShaun Price, a transfer student from the University of New Orleans, came to Baton Rouge two days before the storm. RESPONSE, see page 8