Campus Alert Archive
LU

Beryl Strands Lamar Catastrophe Notice as Beaumont Loses Power for Days

TXhurricaneemergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

Lamar University in Beaumont closed all buildings to public and staff on Monday, July 8, 2024 as Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Texas coast at Matagorda Bay. The closure was severe enough that the university filed a formal 'Catastrophe Notice' with the Texas Attorney General — a public-records compliance filing — stating that key personnel had no electronic or physical access to documents. The university planned to reopen on Wednesday, July 10.

Alerts
3
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
Lamar University
Public R2 · TX
~17,000 studentsLU Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

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 ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionLamar University LU Alerts page (reconstructed)350 chars
LU Alert: Lamar University will be closed Monday, July 8 in response to Hurricane Beryl. All campus buildings will be closed to the public and staff. Classes (summer session) are canceled. Residential students should shelter in their residence halls. Essential personnel will be contacted directly by their supervisor. Do not travel during the storm.

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

Hurricane Beryl made landfall at approximately 4 AM CDT Monday July 8 near Matagorda Bay as a Category 1 hurricane
Beaumont sits in the path of the storm's track north-northeast across east Texas
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Verified verbatimTexas Attorney General Catastrophe Notice filing by Lamar University406 chars
Lamar University has experienced a catastrophic event. Due to the danger of severe storm conditions, including high winds and storm surge resulting from Hurricane Beryl, Lamar University closed its buildings to both the public and staff on July 8, 2024. Key personnel do not have access, electronically or physically, to the documents required to respond to public information requests during this closure.
This 'Catastrophe Notice' is a formal filing under the Texas Public Information Act allowing a governmental body to suspend response deadlines during a documented emergency
The notice itself is the verbatim public-record text submitted by Lamar; while it is not an SMS alert per se, it represents an official public communication of the closure
Lamar's filing acknowledged that key personnel had no remote access — a notable admission of records-management gaps during a storm
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction358 chars
LU Alert: Lamar University plans to reopen on Wednesday, July 10 for summer classes and normal operations. Some areas may still be without power. Drivers should use caution: traffic signals across Beaumont and the surrounding area are out. The Mary and John Gray Library and Setzer Student Center will be open as cooling centers for students. Bring patience.

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

Most Houston-area college reopenings on July 10 came with traffic-signal-out advisories — a hallmark of Beryl's prolonged power outage profile
Beryl left more than [2.2 million customers in southeast Texas without power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Beryl), with restoration extending into the following week
Context

Background

Hurricane Beryl made landfall at Matagorda Bay, Texas at approximately 4 AM CDT on Monday, July 8, 2024 as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph, but its extensive wind field knocked out power to over 2.2 million customers across southeast Texas. Lamar University in Beaumont — about 100 miles east of the landfall point — closed all buildings to public and staff on Monday and filed a formal Catastrophe Notice with the Texas Attorney General, an unusual public-records compliance step acknowledging that personnel had no electronic or physical access to documents during the closure. The university planned to reopen Wednesday, July 10 for summer classes. Lamar State College in Port Arthur and Orange, sister institutions in the Lamar system that are far closer to the immediate coastline, also closed on July 8 due to storm surge. Lamar University's location in Beaumont — at the western edge of the Sabine River basin and astride US 69 — placed it in the worst of the wind field and in the slow-restoration zone for CenterPoint and Entergy customers.
Analysis

Key Findings

Lamar filed a formal Texas AG Catastrophe Notice on July 8 — a rare public-records step
The closure on July 8 included all buildings, summer classes, and the public
Reopening planned for Wednesday July 10, while the broader Beaumont area remained largely without power
Sister Lamar State College campuses in Port Arthur and Orange also closed due to storm surge danger
Outcome
All campus buildings closed July 8 to public and staff. Catastrophe Notice filed with Texas AG citing inaccessibility of records. Reopened Wednesday July 10. Some Lamar State College Port Arthur and Orange campuses also closed.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Lamar University - 2024-07-08 Catastrophe Notice - Texas Attorney General
    texasattorneygeneral.gov
  2. Official
    Hurricane Beryl: Texas Impact, State Response, & Recovery Resources - Texas AFT
    texasaft.org
  3. Official
    7-8-24 Storm Surge Closure - Lamar State College Port Arthur
    lamarpa.edu
  4. Official
    LU Alerts - Lamar University
    lamar.edu
Tags
hurricaneberyltexasbeaumontcatastrophe-noticecampus-closurepublic-recordslamar-system
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion