Published: April 08, 2009 02:01 pm      

LSC-O getting close to complete recovery after Ike

After having seven of its eight buildings damaged by Hurricane Ike last fall, Lamar State College-Orange is well on its way to recovering from the storm.

“The Academic Center was the only building that stayed dry,” said LSC-O president Dr. Michael Shahan, as he described the various levels of restoration. “The library had anywhere from three inches to three feet of water along Green Avenue.”

A recent walk through LSC-Orange’s Ron E. Lewis Library showed it to be largely restored to its pre-storm condition; Shahan said the library as of Mar. 10 was 95 percent restored, along with the Allied Health Building and the Wilson Building. The student center, Shahan said, was about 60 percent restored, while the building housing Rep. Kevin Brady’s office and the college bookstore was about 60 percent restored.

Hurricane Ike did much more damage to LSC-O than did Hurricane Rita; Shahan said it would cost between $9 million and $10 million to get back into shape after Hurricane Ike, compared to the less than $1 million in damage Hurricane Rita inflicted upon the college.

“We’ll come out with our buildings in better shape than they were before,” Shahan said, as he noted some computers — and other items — needed to be replaced still. “I think in a couple more weeks, we’ll be full-steam again.”

Shahan said the college did not lose many students due to Ike, some 40 to 50; the LSC-O enrollment for the Fall 2008 semester, according to the college’s web site, was at 2,147. However, he said the college saw about a three percent drop in credit hours.

“We suffered a little decline, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be,” he said. “Post-Rita, we saw about a five percent drop in credit hours. Ike was a much better experience.”

The students who did return for classes at the college after Hurricane Ike faced an extended semester due to the three-week delay brought on by the storm; Shahan said it was the only practical way to make up the time missed. The end of the fall semester was pushed into January, with the start of the spring semester delayed one week.

“I have to give the students credit; they put up with a lot, with very few complaints,” Shahan said. “By the same token, there was a lot of patience exhibited by the faculty and staff. They had to work under less-than-ideal conditions.”

Shahan said he was pleased with the progress Lamar State College-Orange had made thus far in the wake of Hurricane Ike, as he indirectly acknowledged the stress and hassles foisted on the community.

“It’s been an experience you don’t want to repeat. Until you have to deal with water damage, you don’t realize how much it screws things up,” Shahan said. “We’ll be back, as good as before — if not better off.”