Below the Hurricane Belt
St. George’s University is located in Grenada, just north of South America and below the path most hurricanes follow through the Caribbean.
In the past 60 years, Grenada has only had one major hurricane. In 2004, a severe storm hit Grenada. However, the St. George’s campus, built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, was a safe haven for our students, staff, and faculty. Damage on campus was limited to the loss of some roof tiles. In fact, SGU generators and water desalination plants served our neighborhood in Grenada for a few months.
The School of Arts and Sciences and the Master of Public Health students all stayed on campus and continued their programs within a few days of the storm’s passing. However, to assist the Grenadian government in its re-building efforts, and allow them to use our safe buildings, we relocated our medical and veterinary students to US campuses. This move allowed our medical and veterinary students to resume their studies within three weeks and continue their programs for the remainder of that fall term without significant interruption. The students returned to campus and the University was in full operation for all programs within five months of the storm.
We continue to prepare our campus for weather-related events. We are confident that students will be safe on our campus and we are committed to continuous improvement of our hurricane preparedness and response capabilities, even though these events are infrequent.