Hattiesburg – The whirr of drills and the ricochet of hammers has long since replaced the roar of chain saws at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Hattiesburg and Coast campuses, where nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina, recovery efforts that started with the removal of debris and downed trees are now focused on restoration.

Katrina, the Category 3 storm that is considered the worst natural disaster in modern U.S history, caused more than $200 million in damages to the university, devastating the Southern Miss Gulf Park campus and other university research and teaching sites along the Mississippi coastline with 130-plus mile per hour winds and a storm surge estimated as high as 30 feet in areas, washing through the first floor of buildings and completely destroying others. 

Katrina remained a deadly force as she moved 75 miles north through the university’s Hattiesburg campus with winds of more than 100 mph, damaging buildings and trees and knocking out water and power service for days.
 
In addition to structural damage, the university also incurred losses of research and equipment as well as tuition dollars, after approximately 1,000 students withdrew because of the hurricane’s impact on them and their families.

Ongoing building renovations and roof repair and replacement are signs that recovery from Hurricane Katrina is moving forward.

“Considering the magnitude of this storm and the destruction it caused, I’m pleased at how far we’ve come in getting the university back on its feet,” said Southern Miss President Dr. Shelby Thames

Thames praised the work of faculty, staff and administrators as well as assistance from federal and state governments and the philanthropy of thousands from across the country and around the world who gave donations of money and other resources to help the university rebound from the storm.

“We’re forever grateful for the support we have received,” Thames said. “Despite the tragic nature of this event, the generosity of those who came to our aid has lifted us up, not only in our ability to replace lost resources, but also in letting the Southern Miss family know how many people care about and support us.”

Thames also thanked faculty, staff and students who, despite their own personal losses, returned to work to help restart the fall semester at both Southern Miss campuses and at its other research and teaching sites, as well as their efforts to help assist those hardest hit by the storm with supply and fundraising drives, among other outreach projects.

Thames said the university is poised to play a major role in helping south Mississippi rebound from Hurricane Katrina with its expert faculty, research and technology and commitment to public service.

“Our students, faculty, staff and our alumni are already providing the leadership and talents to help the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the affected region recover,” Thames said. “We are committed to continue playing a vital role on the Gulf Coast by providing quality academic programs to students to give them the education they need to be a part of that recovery effort, as well as to pursue their career and life goals.”

While the Hattiesburg campus sustained damage that have necessitated repairs of $20 million, the Gulf Park campus in Long Beach and other USM sites on the Mississippi Gulf Coast took the brunt of the hurricane.

Southern Miss Gulf Coast was the only institution of higher learning in the hurricane-affected area that moved an entire campus to another site. The Gulf Park facilities were shifted from Long Beach to its temporary location in the Pinion Healthmark facilities inside the former Garden Park Hospital, located just north of Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. The cost of damages at Gulf Park is estimated at $23.9 million (not including losses in research and intellectual property).

Southern Miss Gulf Coast Associate Provost Dr. Pat Joachim praised her faculty, staff and administrators for what she described as “heroic efforts” to make the move possible in order to restart the fall 2005 semester in October.

 “They surmounted all the odds and accomplished the unimaginable,” Joachim said of the move. “Everyone just pulled together to focus on a common goal and that was to help us get the semester back on track as soon as possible.”

Students, faculty, staff and administrators went from having 300,000 square feet at Gulf Park to 50,000 square feet in the Healthmark facilities. State higher education and university officials expect a return to the Gulf Park campus to begin in fall 2007, while property is sought for an additional campus site in Harrison County.
 
The Gulf Park campus sustained damage to every building. The Southern Breeze Internet Coffee Shop, formerly the provost’s home, was completely destroyed. The buildings on the south part of the campus were washed through, leaving the first floors heavily damaged and the buildings unusable.

To date, the Business Complex, Holloway Complex, Physical Plant Building, and the Shipping and Receiving building have been repaired. The AEC and library have been gutted and are ready to be restored. Electrical service has been restored to the north end of campus including the AEC and library. Temporary water and sewerage services are available for the library, AEC, Business Complex, Holloway Complex and the Physical Plant.

A description of damage caused by Katrina as well as recovery efforts at other Southern Miss sites on the coast, along with university academic and outreach initiatives following the storm, follows.

Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL)
As the state’s marine laboratory, the GCRL in Ocean Springs provides scientific data and analysis for use by state and federal marine resource and environmental agencies. It sustained approximately $13 million in damages to buildings, contents and collections (not including research and intellectual property) as a result of tidal surge and winds from Hurricane Katrina. The GCRL resumed classes Sept. 19.

Destroyed on the campus were buildings housing three teaching laboratories, the shop and physical plant, the striped bass research and stocking program. Restoration of the fisheries, research and Caylor buildings, all flooded by the 20-plus-foot storm surge, is in the final stages.

To date, all remaining buildings except the Toxicology Building, Parasitology Wet Lab and the Maturation Building have been restored. Temporary modular units have replaced lost classrooms and teaching labs of the Hopkins Building.

The GCRL Physical Plant has re-established its shop in a storage building with offices in the dormitory. Projects are underway to replace destroyed greenhouse buildings that were used for marine aquaculture and marine botany research.

GCRL fisheries personnel made it back on the water to take monthly samples in
September 2005 and operated in outdoor and makeshift laboratories to process samples. Their efforts to collect samples on time and at all stations insured that the continuity of more than 30 years of data remained unbroken.

Six months after Katrina, scientists with Mississippi's first spotted seatrout stock
enhancement program celebrated rebuilding the native Mississippi
broodstock lost to Hurricane Katrina, a major step in the program's comeback.

In spite of losing half its wet lab space, the aquatic toxicology program is now back to almost 95 percent capacity, conducting funded programs such as the Consortium for Estuarine Ecoindicator Research for the Gulf of Mexico and Aquatic Research Consortium (ARC).

Additional GCRL buildings at Cedar Point, a 224-acre site with five buildings where the focus of research is on shrimp farming and development, sustained damage, including destruction of greenhouse cover and roof damage, estimated at $98,000. Marine finfish aquaculture projects wiped out at the main GCRL campus have restarted in buildings at Cedar Point with additional facilities under construction.

The J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium at Point Cadet was destroyed and has been demolished. The MEC has relocated to the GCRL grounds and modular units house four classrooms that allowed the popular Project Marine Discovery Sea Camp to continue as scheduled with 727 children ages 5-14 participating during June and July 2006.

The marine education center has also successfully restarted visits to schools with live animals and learning activities, field-trip mini camps of one to five days for school groups and teacher workshops. School groups participating in overnight mini camps have come from Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Southern Miss at Stennis Space Center
The Center of Higher Learning at Stennis Space Center, which is administered by Southern Miss, had minimal damage at its facilities. The Southern Miss Department of Marine Science, also housed at Stennis Space Center, received minimal roof and interior damage to its facilities and its offices reopened Sept. 12.

Southern Miss at Jackson County
The University of Southern Mississippi operates a teaching site at the Gulf Coast
Community College campus in Gautier. The Southern Miss facilities there, which the university leases, received minimal damage and the fall 2005 semester at Jackson County resumed Oct. 10.

Southern Miss at Keesler Air Force Base
According to American Forces Press Service, Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, where Southern Miss provides educational services, sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina. Keesler officials cited severe damage to the base’s industrial and housing areas.

About 50 percent of the base was under water. Southern Miss administrative offices at the base were heavily damaged and buildings where the university held classes were converted to shelters following the storm. Southern Miss resumed delivery of educational services at Keesler in the spring 2006 semester.

Hattiesburg Campus Damage, Debris Estimates, Update on Repairs
Facility damage on the Hattiesburg campus primarily involved roof and fencing. Power and water service was out for three days after the storm. Since then, 40 buildings have had roofs either repaired or completely replaced and the roofs of six landmark structures are to be replaced, including the Aubrey K. Lucas Administration Building, the Powell Ogletree Alumni House, the Peck House, Hattiesburg Hall, the Fritzche-Gibbs Building and the Human Performance and Recreation Building.

The total cost of repairs to the Hattiesburg campus is estimated to be $20 million.

Financial Assistance for Students
During the past year, Southern Miss has received generous donations of funding and resources from across the country and around the globe to help the university and its students get back to business.

Southern Miss received $27.5 million in funding from the Katrina/Rita Relief Act to assist its students who were impacted by Katrina. The effort was spearheaded by the Mississippi Congressional delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, and included approximately $90 million in assistance for higher education in Mississippi.

Donations for students, faculty and staff also poured into the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund which has collected $230,940.04 to date. Donations have come from individuals as well as corporate contributors.

After a committee composed of Southern Miss faculty, staff and students assigned to review applications for assistance completed its work, more than 150 faculty, staff and students qualified for relief through the fund.

Southern Miss student-athletes affected by Hurricane Katrina benefited from a relief fund set up by the Southern Miss Athletic Department, which to date totals $117,000 in donations.

On Dec. 8, Southern Miss President Dr. Shelby Thames accepted a $1.5 million contribution to the university from former U.S. Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, through the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina Fund.

The contribution was part of a $30 million allotment in grants through the fund to higher education institutions in the Gulf South affected by Katrina. Southern Miss has applied for an additional $500,000 from the fund for the purchase of technology equipment.

Southern Miss used the initial gift from the fund to cover the costs of employee salaries during the time the university was closed after the storm.

In addition, the Mississippi Legislature, in its spring 2006 session, approved a $150 million line of credit to Southern Miss to assist in recovery efforts in lieu of FEMA and insurance payments to the university.

More Resources about Katrina
Southern Miss has pooled a number of resources to establish educational projects related to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. These include the following:

Hurricane Katrina Research Center -- Southern Miss has established the Hurricane Katrina Research Center, through its University Libraries, which will serve as an important national resource for researchers, historians and others who want to learn about the impact of the storm on the Gulf South.

Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage Katrina Project -- Integral to the Hurricane Katrina Research Center’s collections will be the work of the Southern Miss Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage’s Katrina Project, an effort to collect the stories of those who survived the storm, as well as those who were part of the recovery effort.

Southern Miss School of Mass Communication and Journalism After Katrina Newswire -- The After Katrina Newswire (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina) is a journalism project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi. It is designed to provide student journalists with an opportunity to contribute important stories to the collective coverage of the region's recovery from the ravages of Katrina.

More details about the university post-Hurricane Katrina can be found online at www.usm.edu/pr/pdf/Katrina_Report.pdf