Hurricane Katrina hit too close to home for College of Arts & Sciences senior Denny Sempasa.

"It completely ran over our house. It's flooded, trees are everywhere. From what I understand, every house in the area is completely flooded," he said.

Although Sempasa no longer lives in Louisiana, his mom and sister just moved to a Slidell, a city connected to New Orleans by bridge.

"Slidell was actually hit harder than New Orleans. The bridge that connects the two cities is completely gone," he said.

Finally able to talk to his family Wednesday afternoon after not hearing from them since Saturday, Sempasa was relieved.

"I feel much better knowing they're all okay," he said.

Sempasa's family was able to evacuate and stay with relatives in Baton Rouge.

"It took them forever. Baton Rouge is usually only an hour drive, but I guess it took them five hours to get there," he said.

Katrina made landfall on Monday and has since caused power failure, flooding and death in several Gulf states, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

According to Anne Deahl, associate provost for enrollment management, Marquette has been getting several calls from people planning to attend universities this fall in the affected area who are looking for assistance.

"We will be welcoming these students this fall and will be dealing with them individually to secure a course load that will be able to transfer back to their home institution," she said.

Marquette will be accomodating students from universities including Loyola University New Orleands and Tulane University, Deahl said.

The university plans to work closely with the individuals to provide housing and any other help they may need, she said.

In an effort to support the university's own students, Deahl said she asked the registrar to compile a list of students who had permanent addresses in the affected areas.

Interim Director of University Ministry the Rev. Doug Leonhardt split up the list and had people contact the students.

"We wanted the students to know that we are concerned for them and their families and we're around for any listening or talking. Basically we wanted to offer pastoral outreach to students that needed it," he said.

The Rev. Patrick Dorsey, assistant director of University Ministry and Residence Life, said he placed a call Tuesday night to Sempasa and offered to notify the College of Arts & Sciences of his situation and any other support he might need.

"I really appreciated that he called me," Sempasa said.

Other organizations on campus are planning to support relief efforts.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council announced they would begin to raise funds to support Hurricane Katrina relief. Fraternity and sorority members will be on Central Mall today before the MUSG-sponsored movie to initiate the campaign and collect funds.

The specific relief agency to receive the funds has not yet been announced.

Assistant Dean of Student Development Jon Dooley said although he hasn't heard of any other groups organizing to raise funds, he would encourage all groups to come together and donate to one specific relief agency.

"There is building momentum with a number of groups on campus to organize fundraising efforts," said Mark McCarthy, assistant vice president and dean of the Office of Student Development.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 1, 2005.