At the end of last week, 34 MSU students and instructors headed to the coast of Louisiana to observe Hurricane Lili as it hit the Gulf Coast. “The team of students that went to Louisiana to observe the storm consisted mainly of juniors, seniors and graduate students in the meteorology department,” Mike Brown, professor of meteorology, said.
“We left Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and arrived at Baton Rouge by 3 the next morning. From there we drove to Lafayette, La., which is approximately four miles north of New Iberia, a location that was directly hit by the storm,” Brown said.
“While we were in Lafayette, we measured wind speed as the hurricane was passing over us,” Brown said. “We measured gusts that reached up to 100 mph, and sustained wind readings were approximately 60 mph.”
This trip was an experience for the students, for it allowed them to learn about and experience a hurricane firsthand.
“The students were able to experience the different components of the hurricane such as the eye wall and the feeder band,” Brown added.
“There was light wind damage, roof damage, tree damage and sign damage in the area where we were located,” Brown said. “At one point we witnessed a billboard being torn apart.”
According to the Hurricane Center’s News Flash Report, gusts as high as 92 mph hurled pieces of metal through the air in New Iberia and blew down a 50-foot high sign at the Holiday Inn. This location was four miles south of the location in which the students observed Hurricane Lili.
By the time Lili arrived, some 900,000 people in coastal Louisiana and another 330,000 in far eastern Texas had been ordered or advised to leave their homes. Nearly 17,000 of them stayed at 98 emergency shelters.
This is what some of the students that went on the trip had to say about their experiences.
“I have been through hurricanes before, Hugo and Floyd, actually, but it was truly an experience to be able to observe and study the storm firsthand. I guess you could say that it gave us an adrenaline rush,” Shavonne Delbridge, broadcast meteorology major, said.
“The storm was amazing, I have never participated in a storm chase before. Lili was a Category 2 when it hit the coast, I couldn’t imagine what it would have actually been like if it had remained a Category 4 hurricane,” Brian Heath, broadcast meteorology major, said.
“At the time we were disappointed that we weren’t going to be able to observe a Category 4 hurricane, but now that I look back on it all, I don’t think we would have made it back alive if it had been a Category 4,” added Heath.
“The heaviest part of the storm where we were located lasted for three hours,” Craig Gold, broadcast meteorology major said. “It rained so hard that ponchos and umbrellas were of no use. The intensity of the rain was unbelievable; it almost felt like you were being sandblasted.”
“The rain was so heavy that it felt almost like hail,” Delbridge said.
“The only way that I can explain the rain is that it felt like we were actually driving through a car wash. It was extremely intense,” Heath said.
“The rain was practically horizontal and fell in sheets,” Gene Marlin, geoscience major, said. “The most obvious aspect of the rain was that it caused a stinging sensation on exposed skin. This is not anything we would ever experience in Starkville.”
“While we were observing the storm, there actually wasn’t any lightening. There was mostly just severe winds and intense rain,” Gold said.
“The wind made it harder to stand up, especially when we were having the 100-mph gusts.” Heath said. “If, it had been a Category 4, we would not have been able to stand up in the location that we were in.”
“The gusts of wind actually made the vans move and rock somewhat. I have to say, I have never experienced anything like this before,” Heath said.
“At one point, we were actually able to see shingles being torn off of roofs of the nearby houses,” Marlin said.
“While observing the hurricane, we actually got to see the first eye disappear, and then after that a second eye formed, and that also blew right over where we were located,” Gold said.
“I have to say that this was the perfect storm to chase, if it had been a Category 4 we would not have been able to withstand the winds to observe what was actually taking place as the storm passed over,” Gold added.
Students also got a chance to observe the damage that was left behind by the storm.
“The storm was extremely focused, once we started driving, it didn’t take us long to get out of the damage area,” Heath said.
“Damage observed on the return included trees blown down and at least one roof that was partially torn off,” Marlin said.
This was not all of the damage; much of the damage that occurred went unseen by the students.
According to the Hurricane Center’s News Flash report, water four to eight feet deep swept and swirled across roads and into numerous houses in the town of Pointe Aux Chenes, La.
Some of the residents in Lafayette were told they might be without power for five to seven days.
No one along the coast was killed, but earlier in the week, Lili killed eight people in the Caribbean.
President Bush declared a disaster in Louisiana, allowing communities that suffered from the storm to be eligible for federal aid.