There has never been a hurricane here. The residents don't know the threat from the wind. There's a certain disbelief,

I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures.

On Friday night, I was notified by one of my residents that a hurricane was coming. By morning, everyone was crying, asking me what's going on and what to do. Ms. Darby -- the dorm parent who I report to -- asked me to announce that the school was to be evacuated by 4 o'clock.

While we are emotionally devastated for our residents, visitors and businesses that Hurricane Katrina wreaked so much havoc and tragedy on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we will rebuild our lives and are going forward already.

Hurricane Katrina left many of our residents in need of immediate assistance, and I am glad to announce that Secretary (Elaine) Chao has moved quickly to help out our state,

The primary threat posed by Hurricane Katrina is going to be flooding from storm surge, so those being evacuated just need to make sure they reach higher ground.