No matter how mild the storm, hearing another hurricane is bound for the Gulf Coast is a nerve-wracking experience for Syracuse University students and faculty from the area.

“It makes no sense, but when something bad is heading for Mobile, I want to go back there,” Victoria Pruitt, a senior magazine journalism major who has lived her whole life in Mobile, Ala., said in an email. “I just want to be with my family when something like that happens and it’s really hard for me to just have to sit here and watch for Facebook updates and wait for text messages.”

Hurricane Isaac, which was later downgraded to a tropical storm, hit the Gulf Coast last Wednesday, causing flooding and power outages throughout the area while simultaneously dredging up memories of Hurricane Katrina, which first made landfall in New Orleans seven years ago.

While Katrina didn’t cause much trouble for Pruitt’s family, she said Mobile was shut down for about a week due to power outages, and the city hosted many refugees fleeing New Orleans.

Kevin O’Keefe, a senior policy studies major who lived in Baton Rouge while he was in high school, said the worst part of Katrina was the number of people who fled to Baton Rouge, doubling the population of the 250,000-person city overnight.

When Katrina hit, O’Keefe’s father had just become chancellor at Louisiana State University and had to adjust to the job while dealing with the destruction left by the hurricane. His father opened the LSU football and basketball stadiums to house displaced people, O’Keefe said.

Hurricane Gustav, which hit during O’Keefe’s senior year of high school, did much more damage in the Baton Rouge area, he said.

“Trees were blocking traffic, everyone’s yard was destroyed and no one had power for about two weeks,” he said. “Grocery stores limited each buyer to 10 items per person and you had to wait hours because of shipments not being able to get into the city.”

Andrew Waggoner, a music professor who was born and raised in New Orleans, said it was not until Katrina that people in New Orleans realized the destruction that hurricanes could inflict.

“When there were storms, some people would stay behind and have a big party,” he said. “It wasn’t taken very seriously.”

But Hurricane Katrina changed all that. While Waggoner’s family now lives farther inland, Katrina destroyed the neighborhood Waggoner grew up in.

“Katrina showed everyone and really made clear that the whole area is extremely fragile,” he said.

Waggoner said the Netherlands, a nation that exists largely below sea level, is a prime example of what technology and large amounts of public funds can do to prevent flooding and storm damage. But similar investments have not been made in New Orleans, he said.

“There’s been a lot of talk about how the Army Corp. of Engineers has improved (the levees), but this was a relatively small storm,” he said. “If we have another Katrina-type storm, they might be in trouble.”

Local meteorologist Tom Hauf said he agrees and that the real problem with hurricanes like Katrina and Isaac is the amount of rain they produce.

“Hurricane Katrina was a category-three storm, and after it hit, the media packed up thinking the storm was over,” he said. “Then the flooding began and they had to unpack their bags. Everyone is under the impression Katrina was a huge storm.”

As stronger hurricanes that bring more rain become more frequent, and erosion of the land around New Orleans continues, Waggoner said he fears the city may not be habitable for much longer.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” he said. “It’s very hard to watch.”

Published on September 3, 2012 at 11:34 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta