<p>What kind of preparations are being made for students to shelter in place during the hurricane?</p>
<p>We're not sure yet; the Crisis Management Team is working hard to develop a plan for sheltering every student, including those who live off-campus.</p>
<p>As a parent who weathered Rita 3 years ago in California while dd stayed at Rice, I can assure all other anxious parents that the administration did then and will do now everything to keep the students safe. Rita turned out to be a non-event, but the students and campus were well prepared. And I'm much calmer this time.</p>
<p>Thanks Saramom! I'm a little frazzled. S is off campus, but we told him to GET ON CAMPUS!</p>
<p>Rice will call for off campus students to get on campus sometime tomorrow. Windows are being boarded up. RAs/Masters have gone out to get food/water/board games, etc. Everything will be fine. Rice is probably one of the safest places in Houston to be.</p>
<p>DD was told to report to campus at noon tommorrow She has a place in her college for sheltering in place. I trust they are managing everythign well. I am happier that she is there rather than on the road with one of her friends who decided to evacuate to Austin.</p>
<p>Some Cat 4 & 5 notes about on & off campus</p>
<p>One would expect that the newest buildings around Rice, post Katrina, are conservatively designed. Ask around. Some of the oldest residential buildings have so much concrete in them, that we speculated about their degree of nuclear survivability in the Cold War days. </p>
<p>As in any hurricane, one should worry about windows and loose objects. At least, Rice buildings are not glass boxes, and some have heavily rated windows. The degree of flooding is an issue that may not occur to first timers. Basically, leave nothing in a basement in Houston. Find the highest ground, or elevated parking, for your car. Some of the streets around Rice, well, I've seen high water marks of leaves on cars' roof tops... One might punch up a topo map. Also speeding into an underpass that has 9+ feet of water can be a thought (once happened to the car in front of me on I-10, I had slowed down). At 140+ mph things, like pieces and sections of roofing, roof tops, tiles, debris and limbs, really fly. Being inside an extra-strong, familiar place is nice. (Oddly enough this experience was in a northern state, winds exceeding previous official state records of wind speeds. The bang of a piece of your neighbor's roof, larger than 8'x4' with rafters, bouncing off your siding is jarringly loud.) </p>
<p>Presumably the Rice administration and students will make even a severe hurricane into a good, memorable, learning experience.</p>
<p>reply to NYSkins' Crisis Management</p>
<p>Considering how large some of the doubles and quads are, add 50% extra and ask Food Service for 2-3 sack lunches for Friday evening & night for everyone with a keg of something. (3rd in case Food Service had to skip breakfast Saturday) Although I can't ever remember losing power at Rice, bring an LED flashlight with good batteries.</p>
<p>If the hurricane is so severe that some off campus students need longer term placement, figure requests to add a fifth person in the quads and a third in some doubles for a little while.</p>
<p>I believe Rice stockpiled MRE's for the last hurricane! Ricee is very well-prepared, so I'm not worried. They have weathered other hurricanes before. Students off-campus should definitely go to campus, though - buildings on campus are structurally more sound than most ticky-tacky stick-built apartment buildings!!!</p>
<p>Rice is probably one of the best places in Houston to be during a hurricane. The administration seems to be truly concerned about the safety and well-being of students (unlike another university in Houston that during Rita mandated that all students move out of the dorm because they were a liability). </p>
<p>Rice has its own power system, and my understanding is that it can keep the power going to critical buildings (which include the residential colleges) for up to 2 weeks if the gas tanks are topped off (which they probably are at this time of year). Rice is also on slightly higher ground than a lot of the surrounding area (in Houston, 4 feet of elevation change makes a big difference). And I believe that there are MREs for if the servery is inaccessible or out of food.<br>
Probably the best place in Houston to be this weekend is on the Rice campus. Especially Lovett College - that place is a fortress.</p>
<p>Eh, we're cramming 6 or 7 people into some of the doubles at Lovett. It's going to be fun.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the updates everyone.</p>
<p>We lived in Houston for 20+ years and survived Hurricane Alicia in '83 (lots of broken windows downtown--couldn't go to work for 3 days)</p>
<p>DD moved with us to NY in 2002 and is now proud to be ensconced in Brown College. She advised she was checking out lots of string quartet music from the library today so that the MUSIs could play their way through the storm!</p>
<p>I wouldn't be surprised if some U-Tube videos crop up in a few days ... with MUSIs playing away, accompanying the wind! </p>
<p>Not to take it lightly, am thinking of my own in his college ...</p>
<p>It sounds like all students will be well taken care of. Bravo Rice!</p>
<p>Thinking about all my Rice friends... My s lived off campus at the time of Rita, so he and his roommies evacuated to one of their homes in San Antonio rather than to cram into a room on campus. He parked his car on an upper level of one of the medical center parking lots, near the inside and away from wind and rain, before he left. Nice and safe and dry. And when he returned the gate was up so he didn't ahve to pay a dime!</p>
<p>Any update? We are very worried for our daughter who is a new student there.</p>
<p>No new update since yesterday. Updates are available through the Rice homepage.</p>
<p>I think I remember from Rita, when my son was there, that students are sheltered in buildings designed to take a Cat 3 direct hit. The website was so helpful in providing information that I didn't worry. </p>
<p>I have to admit that I used to live in Virginia Beach, Va., and had the eye of a Cat 2 hurricane (I forget which one) go within 90 miles of my house, so I have more personal hurricane experience than other posters.</p>
<p>Houston and Rice have a lot of experience with big storms.</p>
<p>Motso:</p>
<p>Go to Houston</a> news, entertainment, search and shopping | chron.com - Houston Chronicle which is the website for the Houston Chronicle. It has very good storm info. The Sci Guy is now a national celebrity.</p>
<p>It sounds like a very serious storm, but there is no reason to be alarmed. Rice is extremely well prepared and will keep all of the students safe.</p>
<p>The Chronicle is reporting that water is already a foot deep on parts of the Strand in Galveston as of 10:30 am CDT.</p>
<p>Prayers for all of you in Houston. Be smart and be safe.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody. I have checked the site you mentioned.
Here is a messege from David Leebron, Rice University</p>
<p>Dear Rice parents,</p>
<p>For those of you living some distance from Houston, and also those of you who live here in the city whose child remains on campus, you are no doubt concerned about the wellbeing of your child as you read or watch news stories about the approaching hurricane. Some of those stories speak of the hurricane in terms that seem almost apocalyptic. Please be assured that we are taking every possible measure to ensure the safety of your child here at Rice. </p>
<p>Houston is used to, and well prepared for hurricanes. Hurricane Ike is approaching the Texas coast and is expected to make landfall shortly after midnight on Saturday morning as a category 2 or possibly low category 3 storm with high winds that could reach somewhat over 100 miles per hour. Houston is a bit inland, so the storm will weaken as in moves toward us and winds of approximately 70 miles per hour are expected here in the city. Were watching whether the storms path will put Houston on what is called the dirty east side of the storm, where winds are stronger and rain is heavier, or as now seems more likely on the relatively milder west side. </p>
<p>Rice is prepared for any eventuality. We cancelled classes today, and our only business over the weekend will be to protect the campus and tend to the needs of our students. We have an outstanding crisis management team which this year has already gone through hurricane preparation (some for real hurricanes, some as drills) three times. The buildings being used to shelter our students are well built and well protected. Our undergraduate students are safe in their colleges, under the supervision of the college masters, and will be moved into specially secured shelters today to ride out the storm. Graduate students who live in Rice housing off campus, or who have been evacuated, are being located in secure buildings on campus. We have taken additional steps to assure the availability of food, water and power. Essential personnel such as police and emergency medical teams are on campus. In sum, we have a great deal of both experience and preparation to bring to bear -- enough to handle a hurricane even substantially stronger than this one. As I write this, the campus remains quiet, and although the skies have begun to cloud over, winds are mild. We have asked all students to be in their designated sheltered buildings by early this evening.</p>
<p>In order to keep you as informed as possible, we will be posting updates regularly on this site. As my wife Ping and I visit with the students across the campus today and over the weekend, I will also post some updated communications. But please rest assured that, as we all watch the progress of Ike, the Rice campus is one of the safest places to be in Houston during a hurricane and we will be doing all that is necessary to keep our students - your children -- as safe and comfortable as possible.</p>
<p>Warm regards,</p>
<p>President David Leebron</p>