Stay Up To Date: Harvey

Continuous Coverage On Harvey's Impact At Rice

8/30/17 12:40pm

Rice University has avoided major flooding with no losses of power during Hurricane Harvey. The residential colleges have opened their doors to house off-campus students and classes are canceled through Labor Day. Serveries are offering two meals a day through the end of Labor Day weekend.

• Throughout Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, Rice campus remained safe due to the preparedness of its facilities and existence of improved city infrastructure, according to Vice President of Administration Kevin Kirby. (1:15 PM 9/1)
• Rice administration has set up a donation system for a Rice Hurricane Relief Fund, which "will be used to support Rice employees and students who have been negatively impacted by Hurricane Harvey and/or Rice outreach activities to benefit Houston in its recovery efforts," according to its online description. The administration has also launched two data collection forms: a needs assessment form and a match service. Starting Tuesday evening, asks Rice community members if they need temporary shelter or if have extra beds to offer those in the Rice community who have been displaced. As of Wednesday night, Rice has been able to find matches for everyone who expressed a need for temporary housing. The donation portal, needs assessment and match form can all be found on emergency.rice.edu. (11:01 AM 8/31)
• A newly launched initiative is matching hundreds of Rice students and other members of the Rice community with volunteer efforts in the Houston area helping with Hurricane Harvey recovery. Students and faculty may register with the Rice Harvey Action Team at http://ricesa.org/hurricane-harvey/ in order to participate, with over 750 signed up so far according to Student Association President Justin Onwenu. In an email announcement, Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson recommended volunteering through R-HAT moving forward rather than independently, as many Rice students have done over the course of the past few days.
  R-HAT is a collaboration between the SA, Graduate Student Association, Center for Civic Leadership and Doerr Institute for New Leaders. Beginning today, the initiative is sending volunteers to NRG Stadium, Houston Food Bank, Congregation Emanu El and on cleanup and demolition teams in flooded areas. The SA has also begun collecting material donations on campus and is working with the Rice Student Volunteer Program to determine where to allocate them, according to Onwenu. (2:53 AM 8/30)
• Curfew time has been changed from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. to allow mobility for volunteers. (8:45 PM 8/29)
• Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced today a citywide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to prevent further property crimes. (7:45 PM 8/29)
• Rice will remained closed until through Labor Day, September 4th, according to an email from Provost Marie Lynn Miranda and Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby.
  The Recreation Center, Fondren Library, Student Health Services, and the serveries continue to be open with limited hours. In the Monday morning email update, Miranda and Kirby said they will be sharing information on how to volunteer in Houston and across campus in addition to a tool to determine how to temporarily house members of the Rice community who have been displaced. (1:11 PM 8/29)
• Due to the temporary closure of our printing facility, we regret to inform you that we will not be able to produce a print issue of the Thresher this week. (7:00 PM 8/28)
• Rice has extended closure until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, according to an email update from Provost Marie Lynn Miranda.
  In a Sunday evening update, Miranda and Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby said they expect flood conditions on many roads, with current weather models indicating heavy rain threats remaining through midday Thursday. (4:15 PM 8/28)
• Rice campus will remain closed through at least Tuesday due to Houston flooding, according to an email from Provost Marie Lynn Miranda.
  "Deans [Seiichi] Matsuda and [John] Hutchinson will be working with us as we reach out to faculty to see if there are ways to engage students with online class material," Miranda said in the email. (2:20 PM 8/27)
• Harvey update: Another tornado warning has been issued for the Houston area until further notice, following one that concluded at 10:30.
  According to an email sent by Provost Marie Lynn Miranda, the campus is closed until at least Tuesday, with high water at many of the entrances. (11:50 AM 8/27)

Check back at this page for live updates throughout the week.

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