Tulane actively monitoring Hurricane Laura, continuing to operate under normal conditions

President Michael Fitts, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Norton, and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Robin Forman, sent an update on Wednesday, Aug. 26, via email to the Tulane community regarding Hurricane Laura.

The message read: 

Dear Tulane Community: 

We continue to closely monitor Hurricane Laura, which is forecast to make landfall near the Louisiana/Texas border – more than 200 miles from New Orleans – in the early morning hours on Thursday. While Laura continues to grow in strength, the impact to Tulane and the New Orleans area is still expected to be minimal. Starting this afternoon, we will likely see rain and occasional gusty winds, but nothing that will prevent the university from continuing normal operations today and through the rest of the week. In the unlikely event that the forecast changes and the New Orleans area is expected to experience localized severe weather, we will update the Tulane community immediately. The severe weather preparations and safety precautions we enacted earlier in the week are still in place, and we are confident that our campus community and facilities will be safe.

We remain, however, very concerned for our neighbors, family and friends in the western part of our state and all of those who are in the storm’s path. We have reached out to our students from these areas to provide any assistance we can. We are keeping everyone affected by this storm in our thoughts and prayers and will be with them during their recovery. The fact that Hurricane Laura is arriving as the anniversaries of both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita approach is not lost on anyone in our state. We are separated by miles but united in spirit with all who are under the threat of Laura.