After Tropical Storm Humberto strengthened and made landfall as a category 1 hurricane it caused significant damage throughout Southeast Texas and knocked out power to more than 118,000 homes. Power was restored to the LU and LIT campuses late Thursday afternoon and clean-up, primarily of tree limbs and other debris, continued Friday across the campus. Classes resume at LU and LIT on Monday.
Lamar University and LIT had initially cancelled classes for Thursday in anticipation of the heavy rainfall and flooding predicted to occur after Tropical Storm Humberto made landfall.
The storm strengthened to a category 1 hurricane and roared through the region in the early morning hours. After an initial damage assessement, classes were also cancelled for Friday to allow for power to be restored to the campus (and much of the region) and for clean-up of the campus to take place. Except for essential personnel, staff and faculty were asked to remain at home.
The Dining Hall remained open for Cardinal Village residents.
Classes will resume Monday. Thursday, Friday classes will be made up at a later date.
The National Hurricane Center had predicted the storm would dump up to 15 inches of rain in Southeast Texas by the time it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The arrival of Hurricane Humberto led to the first use of Lamar University's Connect-ED Emergency Communications System, a high-tech communications system that can rapidly contact faculty, staff and students via telephone, email, TTY or text message. Instructions on how students may update their contact information for the Connect-ED system, is available at http://lamar.edu/connected.
