The Rice Thresher

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September 30, 2005 > News > Students reflect on Rita experiences

Students reflect on Rita experiences

By Beko Binder | Thresher staff

Hurricane Rita came and went anti-climactically in Houston, but not before sending some students rushing out of town and others into a frenzy of on-campus preparation.

About two-thirds of Rice students ultimately chose to remain on campus for the hurricane, Assistant to the President Mark Scheid said. The Crisis Management Team did not issue a blanket recommendation about whether or not students should leave Houston.

Baker College senior Elyse Freeman, who drove to College Station, said she decided to evacuate based on a combination of reasons.

“I worried about my car flooding, my good friend from Baker really wanted to evacuate but didn’t have a car, and my parents really wanted me to come home,” Freeman said.

Scheid said initially about 50 percent of students remained at Rice. But that number rose as students returned to campus after spending frustrating hours on gridlocked highways, he said.

Lovett College freshman Omar Metwalli said it took him 11.5 hours to drive the 95 miles to College Station. Metwalli said he encountered problems other than the traffic.

“We got rear-ended by a [driver] who didn’t have insurance or a license,” Metwalli said. “[The evacuation] was honestly the most hectic thing that I’ve ever had to go through.”

Lovett freshman Anna Mathai said her parents insisted she return to her Leesville, La. home. However, Mathai said the damage to her hometown — which is close to the Louisiana-Texas border — was much worse than the damage to Houston.

“I think I was probably the only person who got hit worse by the hurricane [after evacuating],” Mathai said. “I had no power this weekend. There were huge uprooted trees. … There’s no water anymore, and [the city government] doesn’t know how long it will take to restore [the utilities].”

Freeman said she does not regret her decision to leave campus, even though she drove to College Station without air conditioning to save gas.

“It was fun,” Freeman said. “I’ve never made an 18-hour trip before. At 6 a.m., when we were on the road fearing a Category 5 [hurricane] coming to Houston, we were glad we left. It turned out I would have been just fine staying [on campus] and would have preferred to stay, but it wasn’t a bad decision.”

Many students who remained at Rice spent Wednesday evening and Thursday preparing for the hurricane.

Sid Richardson College freshman Michelle Horng said she helped with Sid’s preparations.

“[The staff] boarded up windows in the commons,” Horng said. “They told us to bring all the picnic tables and volleyball nets inside.”

Brown College freshman Matt Youn said he prepared for the impending hurricane by stocking up on water. Youn said he was impressed with the students who stayed at Rice.

“Overall, it was a good experience to see how well people work together in preparation [for a natural disaster],” Youn said.

Hanszen College Master Wes Morris said most students had good attitudes about helping prepare for the storm.

“[Students were] very helpful, very cooperative and very upbeat,” Morris, an English professor said. “Everyone was trying very hard to make the colleges as safe as possible.”

Horng said many of the on-campus preparations were not tested because the storm was not as intense as had been expected.

“They tried to lock us in [the commons] from 12 a.m. on, but the hurricane wasn’t strong, so they let us go back to our rooms,” Horng said. “I kind of wish there had actually been a storm because we made so many preparations.”

Risa Gordon contributed to this report.

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