With hurricane season passing the halfway point, Student Union officials met Tuesday morning to discuss preparations and plans in the event of another storm.Though officials were pleased with how Hurricane Gustav was handled, they are hoping to solve problems before another storm arrives. Powering the building and communication were central concerns.”With every storm you learn a little bit more,” Ken Bueche, Union associate director, said.The Union lost power for nearly four days, the longest power outage since opening in the 1960s.A generator  allowed emergency lights to click on and smoke detectors to remain active. Bueche said he hopes to have the emergency generator hooked up to more outlets in the future, allowing fans and lights to be powered.Greater connectivity to the generator could also power air conditioning units designed to protect the Union’s art galleries and the theater’s grand pianos from humidity.Traveling exhibits from other museums contractually require the room be kept at certain temperature and humidity levels,  said Shirley Plakidas, Union director.Because the Union acts as an information center during severe weather, the University expects it to remain open or to open as soon as possible after the weather changes.Plakidas said the Union will attempt to keep its server running during the next storm to better staff communication and allow the Union’s Web site to be updated.”Communication was 10 times better than it was during Katrina,” Plakidas said.The foam roof installed prior to construction on the interior of the Union was relatively undamaged during Gustav. The roof was made of the same material installed on the New Orleans Superdome following Hurricane Katrina and is capable of surviving 200 mph winds.”With the old roof, if we had even a regular rain storm we would have to set up buckets everywhere,” Plakidas said.—-Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]