Relief filled Hurricane Katrina survivor Amanda Mahnke when she learned she would have a place to go after being displaced by the tragedy.

Mahnke, a junior biochemistry major, attended her first class Sept. 8 after NIU told her she would be welcome at the university.

Mahnke originally was from Tulane University, which experienced mostly wind damage and some flooding, Mahnke said.

“We had some damage, busted out windows, lack of power, water and sewage,” Mahnke said. “There’s about a foot of water in some places, so some of the low-lying buildings are wet.”

Students were urged to get out of the university days before the city-wide evacuation. On the Saturday before the hurricane hit, the president of the university called a university-wide evacuation. The day of the evacuation also was freshmen move-in day, so many students were able to leave with their parents, Mahnke said. Those who did not have cars or could not leave with parents were put on buses and sent to Jackson State until they could get to airports to be sent back home, she said.

About 12,000 students from Tulane all evacuated safely, Mahnke said.

Most students’ items in the residence halls most likely are safe, Mahnke said. Some of the first floors may be flooded, but not too badly, she said. Students living in off-campus housing were probably affected the most. She said one of her friends who lived close to the levee feared her house may be gone.

Mahnke, who lived on the fourth floor of one of the residence halls at Tulane, said she left with a friend who had her car on campus. The only items she brought with were a week’s worth of clothing and some toiletries.

“We all thought it was going to be like Hurricane Ivan, which came last year and looked like it was going to hit us,” Mahnke said. “Last year we were called to evacuation, but the hurricane never touched us – instead it took a sharp turn and hit Florida.”

Mahnke said almost every university “opened its doors” to students who evacuated the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Before arriving at NIU, she said she was choosing between UIC and NIU based on their availability of classes.

“NIU was great at taking care of me,” Mahnke said. “Everyone who I’ve needed help from has been really nice and I really appreciate it.”

Including Mahnke, there are a total of six visiting undergraduate students who are from schools affected by Katrina, said Vice Provost Earl Seaver.

Suzanne Willis, acting associate dean of the graduate school, said she is not sure of the exact number of NIU graduate students who were affected by Katrina.

Mahnke, who received a full-tuition scholarship from Tulane, said all the financial aid is being transferred from Tulane University to NIU and NIU is waiving the tuition fees for this semester.

“This helps Tulane immensely because they won’t have to dig into their endowment,” Mahnke said.

She said all credits from NIU should transfer back to Tulane.

Since Tulane is the largest employer in New Orleans and because of its minimal damage, the university is planning to be up and running by next semester, Mahnke said. Though Mahnke will attend NIU for the rest of the semester, she plans to return to Tulane in the spring.

“Right now, they already have people coming in to fix the windows and make sure all the damage is fixed,” she said. “They already have some power, so they’ve turned the air on in some buildings to protect things like the archive collections and books so they won’t get destroyed.”

The process of fixing everything will be easier once the water and sewage is back on for everyone, Mahnke said.

New OrleansMayor Ray Nagin said this should happen by mid-October, she said.

“I really lucked out because I didn’t lose that much,” Mahnke said. “I know all my stuff is still there, I just can’t get to it. If people can, just keep donating to the Red Cross because the city’s really going to need help. They will start rebuilding, but it’s going to take years to get back to anything where it used to be. It’s just a horrible situation.”