Severe weather in Southern Louisiana isn’t a rare occurrence. But on Tuesday, Feb. 7, the southeastern portion of the state experienced some unexpected tornado activity. 
The University’s Emergency Operations Center activates for any type of crisis situation on campus. And according to University spokesperson Ernie Ballard, one of the main purposes of the EOC is letting students and faculty know when severe weather could be a threat.
“Safety is our top priority,” Ballard said. “So we just want to communicate as much as we can (to) students, faculty, staff and visitors on campus, what might happen, what’s coming up and any steps that they might need to take.”
The EOC sent out multiple messages from the National Weather Service via their emergency messaging system on Feb. 7. The alerts were sent to inform students of the tornado warning issued for East Baton Rouge Parish.
An initial warning was sent around 8:00 a.m., and was extended about every 30 minutes until 11:30 that morning. All warning messages sent out included the text “shelter indoors immediately,” which left some off-campus students confused.
“We know that the shelter in place, but campus is also open, there was some confusion (with) students, especially off campus not knowing exactly what to do.”
The University, in fact, did not close during the tornado warning. Ballard said there are multiple reasons behind the decision.
“We have hundreds of employees, hundreds of students taking those 7:30 classes and so you have to evaluate, what’s the safety of those students?” Ballard said. “If you would cancel, they may get on the road, try to go home. And at that point in time, we weren’t sure how serious the threat was to Baton Rouge.”
While the exact situation that occurred on Feb. 7 is fairly uncommon, Ballard said it’s these situations that help the EOC learn and further improve communication.
“We understand the frustration and we’re trying to improve it each time. And to make sure that the safety messages are put out there, and that safety is a priority here. So we want to make sure that it’s clearly communicated each time we have an incident.”