Campus Alert Archive
SOWELA

Ten Days Into the Semester, Hurricane Laura Wrecks All 13 Buildings at SOWELA

LAhurricaneemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On August 23, 2020, SOWELA Technical Community College announced it would close all on-campus and clinical classes ahead of Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura. Days later, Category 4 Hurricane Laura struck Lake Charles with 150 mph winds, causing more than $40 million in damage to all 13 of SOWELA's main campus buildings and delaying the resumption of classes until late September.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
SOWELA Technical Community College
Technical College · LA
~3,000 studentsSOWELA Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTWebsite
Approximate reconstruction206 chars
SOWELA Alert: In anticipation of Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura, SOWELA is closing all on-campus and clinical classes through Wednesday. Please monitor official channels for updates and stay safe.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

SOWELA announced the closure in anticipation of back-to-back systems, Hurricane Marco and the then-tropical-storm Laura, before Laura intensified into a Category 4 hurricane.
Reconstructed wording based on KPLC's reporting of the closure announcement; the exact notice text was not published, so isVerbatimConfirmed is false.
UPDATEWebsite
Approximate reconstruction259 chars
SOWELA Update: Due to significant damage to the Lake Charles main campus from Hurricane Laura, originally scheduled hybrid and online classes will resume Friday, September 25. On-campus classes will resume at the Jennings and Oakdale instructional sites only.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Because the Lake Charles main campus sustained over $40 million in damage to all 13 buildings, only the Jennings and Oakdale instructional sites could host on-campus classes when instruction resumed.
Reconstructed wording; the precise update text was not preserved verbatim, so isVerbatimConfirmed is false.
Context

Background

SOWELA Technical Community College's main campus is in Lake Charles, Louisiana. According to KPLC, on August 23, 2020 SOWELA announced it would close all on-campus and clinical classes in anticipation of Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura. The college's own Hurricane Laura FAQ describes Laura as the worst storm to hit the Louisiana coast in more than 150 years, bringing 150 mph winds and a storm surge that caused over $40 million in damage to all 13 of the main campus buildings, just ten days into the fall semester. Community College Daily chronicled the year-long recovery, and the Orange Leader reported classes resumed September 25, 2020, with on-campus instruction limited to the Jennings and Oakdale sites because of the Lake Charles damage. The case shows how a small technical college translates a catastrophic hurricane into a cascade of closure and partial-reopening notifications.
Analysis

Key Findings

SOWELA's pre-storm closure was issued for two systems at once, Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura, before Laura became a Category 4 storm
Hurricane Laura caused more than $40 million in damage to all 13 main campus buildings in Lake Charles
When classes resumed September 25, 2020, on-campus instruction was limited to the Jennings and Oakdale sites because Lake Charles was too damaged
The storm struck just ten days into the fall semester, compounding the disruption
Outcome
Hurricane Laura caused over $40 million in damage to all 13 main campus buildings in Lake Charles. Hybrid and online classes resumed September 25, 2020, but the heavily damaged Lake Charles campus could not host on-campus classes at that time.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    SOWELA closed through Wednesday - KPLC
    kplctv.com
  2. Official
    Hurricane Laura Frequently Asked Questions - SOWELA Technical Community College
    sowela.edu
  3. Source
    Rising from the rubble: What we've learned one year after Hurricane Laura - Community College Daily
    ccdaily.com
  4. News
    SOWELA classes to resume Friday, Sept. 25 - Orange Leader
    orangeleader.com
Tags
hurricanehurricane-lauralouisianatechnical-collegelake-charlescampus-closurenatural-disaster
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion