Learning to Survive

Imagine...today is June 27, 1957. A newly launched national television network’s eyes are tensely focused on the Gulf Coast. Somewhere out at sea, a storm approaches. There are no advanced warning systems to sound an alert, no emergency evacuation plans to engage, no satellite tracking system to predict where and when this storm will strike land. There is just the awful waiting. In the dark of that one night, Hurricane Audrey slams ashore in Louisiana and within 24 hours over 500 people are dead, communities are swept away, and a swath of coast and heartland is left to mourn in the wake of nature’s indifferent fury.

Now imagine August 2005, nearly fifty years later, and America’s attention once again turns to the Gulf Coast. Now, weather science is highly advanced and should be ready, evacuation plans are in place, and satellites precisely track the hourly path and power of the hurricane named "Katrina." America is reassured; all is ready. But are we really?

Katrina strikes with devastating force, the human structures and preparations crumble and fail before walls of wind and water. Long-neglected levies burst, hundreds of thousands are isolated and abandoned. Government is slow to act, souls are washed away, and chaos and diaspora seem evident across television screens worldwide. The entire Gulf region is devastated. Less than a month later, Rita bursts ashore and the region absorbs still another crushing blow.

How could this happen here and now? Who is to blame? What should we have done? A stubborn resolve emerges among the survivors: we will recover, we will never forget, we will never let these failures happen again.

The National Hurricane Museum & Science Center (NHMSC) is a tangible symbol for that resolve. Dedicated to both remembering the past, showcasing current weather and coastal management science, and preparing for the future storms, this unique institution will preserve and interpret the social history and impact of past hurricanes, as well as, educate the public about the dynamic science of hurricanes while helping them prepare for the next one.

Our Mission and Vision

The National Hurricane Museum & Science Center is dedicated to understanding hurricanes and wetlands, and investigating their scientific and ecological character and impact. Through engaging educational experiences, the NHMSC prepares people to survive and recover from storms, while at the same time using hurricanes as a forceful motivation to learn math, science, and history in irresistible ways.

Expected to open less than two years after breaking ground, the National Hurricane Museum & Science Center will become known and respected as:

  • A national educational center and electronic hub for the understanding of hurricanes and coastal wetlands as natural, scientific, and cultural phenomena
  • A popular, financially viable destination contributing to the economic development of the region
  • A trusted source for timely and relevant information to better prepare people to survive and recover from hurricanes
  • A creative educational model using the power and fascination of hurricanes to motivate students to learn mathematics, ecology, history, geography, and social science
  • A place of respectful remembrance of the sacrifice and courage of people who risk lives and property in the paths of these ever-present storms

The National Hurricane Museum & Science Center aspires to be a permanent educational asset for the region enhancing the quality of life by preparing people to understanding, enduring and recovering from hurricanes, reducing loss of life and damage to property through innovative education and timely communication. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization, all donations are welcome and fully tax deductible.

Exhibit Experience

The National Hurricane Museum and Science Center proposes to be a unique facility with a critically important message in a distinctive location. In other words, there has never been anything like it in the world. In order for the Center to successfully fulfill its educational, civic, and cultural mission and vision, it will require exhibits that are specific to its subject matter and place in the world. The themes and components of the exhibits have been carefully developed to meet each of the NHMSC goals and directives in a holistic, exciting, informative, and personal way, melding engagement with learning for the most impactful experience possible.

Visitors to the National Hurricane Museum & Science Center should come away with a clear understanding of hurricanes and wetlands, and a road map for successfully coexisting with the former, and within the latter.

Exhibit Themes

•Public Responsibility
•Accumulated Understanding
•Looking Ahead
•Understanding Complexity
•Preparedness
•Understanding Wetlands

The Visitor Experience

It is the ambitious interpretive goal of the NHMSC to educate and sufficiently prepare the general public for hurricanes. The NHMSC will be an active agent for public education, filling a much-needed role to engage the public and arm individuals and communities with both knowledge and action plans for surviving—and thriving—in hurricane country.

After visiting the NHMSC, people should be able to make better-informed decisions about the risk that they take when they build in, live in, or visit hurricane country. In all reality, “hurricane country” is everywhere, as we are all affected by them in some way, and we all know at least one person who has encountered them personally.

The National Hurricane Museum & Science Center is more than a museum, because we consider history as a building block in order to look forward and teach activism and proactivism. It is also more than a science center—going past the hard facts of science to show how it intersects culture, economics, and people.

The exhibits are grouped and sequenced to create a gestalt of higher-order interpretation, so that the concepts illuminated by the individual exhibits build upon one another for a rich, integrated overall experience. If they do their job, they will impart a deeper understanding of how people, hurricanes, and the wetlands environment interact.

The NHMSC was founded with the firm commitment to improve basic math and science learning by using the motivational theme of hurricanes to inspire students with real world application of classroom lessons. Educational facilities, including discovery rooms, auditoriums, and websites will complement a dynamic outreach program that reach students across the gulf region and beyond.

This all new museum and science center to be located in the middle of hurricane country 
(in Lake Charles, Louisiana), will become a major tourist destination with state-of-the-art interactive experiences and engaging educational programs. In addition, the NHMSC will be a critical partner for science educators throughout the region. By incorporating the human side of the story and memorializing the courage and sacrifice of those who endure hurricanes, the NHMSC will uniquely combine the latest hurricane science with social history. By integrating an active National Weather Service weather station, interactive exhibitions, simulations, games, collections, oral histories, web sites, educational curricula, public events, and scientific symposia, the NHMSC will become a visible force advocating for regional and national responsibility to prepare and protect this country from the ever-increasing threat and impact of hurricanes. As a critical part of that message, the NHMSC will incorporate the ecological story of wetlands and the need for innovative management and development of coastal assets.

Audrey, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike—the United States is a hurricane country, annually plagued by severe weather events that slam ashore from Texas to the mid-Atlantic coast. As a hub in a national network tracking, interpreting, and understanding hurricanes as both ecological and social phenomena, the NHMSC will be a trusted source for timely and relevant content to prepare for, survive, and recover from the devastating force and unrelenting frequency of hurricanes.

The educational ambition of the NHMSC is broader than merely studying the history of, and preparing for future hurricanes. By utilizing the motivational power and fascination with hurricanes, the NHMSC will design and deliver high-quality, curriculum-relevant math, science, and social science educational experiences for schools and teachers across the country.

To meet these critical educational goals, the NHMSC is initiating a friend and fundraising campaign to increase awareness and raise financial resources to achieve its mission of building a national center for hurricane education in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Never forgetting the past while actively preparing for the future are the twin goals of the NHMSC. If one life is saved, one community spared devastation through education and preparation, then all that we invest together in this effort will be worthwhile.

Project Background

The National Hurricane Museum & Science Center, as its name suggests, is a hybrid organization of many parts: 1) a museum, because it will chronicle the history and social meanings of hurricanes through collections and archives; 2) a science center, because it will use interactive and immersive educational experiences to explore the science and impacts of hurricanes as powerful forces of nature; and 3) part university, as it partners with the NOAA, NASA, Louisiana State University and the local McNeese State University, as well as other educational institutions, to train and intern hurricane and related industry professionals in the latest techniques and technologies for predicting, preparing for, surviving, rescuing and recovering from hurricanes.

To be located on the waterfront of Lake Charles, Louisiana, adjacent to the heavily-traveled Interstate 10 at the midpoint between Houston and Baton Rouge, the NHMSC will be an irresistible destination for the region, as well as a hub in an interconnected learning network dedicated to understanding hurricanes and to using the history and science of hurricanes to stimulate the learning of basic math and science. In partnership with government, schools, public agencies, and private individuals, the NHMSC intends to save lives, reduce damage, speed recovery and ease the return of the people of hurricane country who courageously withstand these devastating storms to sustain their homes, lifestyles, and families. Through useful and engaging education, the NHMSC will tell the natural and social story of hurricanes while delivering memorable experiences to millions of visitors.