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My Account of Hurricane Ivan's Rendezvous with Grenada It was Monday afternoon, September 6th, at St. George's University, and I had just finished taking a big quiz in my Veterinary Pharmacology class earlier that morning. I walked into our on-campus cafeteria and noticed that all of my fellow classmates seemed to be more anxious than usual. Students were bombarding the snack shop, hundreds of people were lined up to grab something off the buffet, and there were groups of students huddled together talking very loudly. I sat down quietly to eat my usual pizza slice, and I couldn't help but overhear a conversation nearby; they were talking about some hurricane that might possibly hit Grenada, and it had been announced in their classes that the university was going to cancel classes the whole next day and resume on Wednesday. Well, this discussion caused me to sit up and take notice, especially the part about classes being cancelled the next day, because that was something that I had not been told from my own professors. Thus, I started asking around, and soon I found one of my professors, and he confirmed the rumors: there was, in fact, a hurricane named Ivan coming toward us, so classes had indeed been cancelled, but it was just for safety precautions because, as of then, Grenada had only a 10% chance of being hit.
Still, I decided to run home and call my favorite, Grenadian taxi driver, Mike, and ask him to pick me up so that I could get a few supplies JUST IN CASE the power might go out in my apartment, (and in other areas of the island), and I might not get to leave my room for a couple of days. Well, when I arrived at one of the popular grocery stores called Food Fair, I was shocked at the crowd. Not only were my fellow students invading this store, but many Grenadians were lined up with grocery carts full of water, cereal, peanut butter, etc. Now I was getting a little more concerned about this hurricane. The locals had not had a hurricane since 1955 (Hurricane Janet), and even though some of them were there when Janet hit Grenada, most of the survivors to this day do not usually get concerned when a hurricane warning is issued for the island. Since 1955, any hurricane that had ever been seen heading for Grenada always either missed the island completely OR it turned into a tropical storm when it did arrive at Grenada's coastline. However, the chaos I saw going on this day caused me to get more supplies than I initially planned. I later heard that the airport AND all the grocery stores would be closing later that afternoon, which was VERY unusual. So, I went home, did all my laundry, JUST IN CASE my apartment may not have water for the next few days, and then sat down and tried to relax after an already interesting and unanticipated day. That night, I turned on my radio and I heard that Hurricane Ivan was now 385 miles away, moving at 22 mph, with winds gusting up to 105 mph, which could strengthen before hitting Grenada. Thus, we now had a Category 3 hurricane still heading right for Grenada. I soon got a call from a medical classmate, who was working for the university this particular night to provide an emergency medical clinic for anyone that might possibly be injured in this upcoming event. He explained that he was concerned that IF Ivan did hit, then my ground floor apartment near the True Blue shoreline might be hit worse than where he, his wife, and 2 girls were up on top of the hill at True Blue, and he would be glad to reserve sleeping quarters for me in this clinic area if I decided to come stay up there for the night. Well, I knew this classmate very well, and when he expressed his concern, I realized that it was just better safe than sorry, so I packed my food, toiletries, and a pillow, and walked back on-campus to the designated building on top of the hill around 9 pm. While walking, I kept noticing lots of lightning, (which is not usually common in Grenada, even though the island has rainstorms almost daily), and I noticed that it was SO hot tonight and more humid than ever. We called our families that night to update them, still not sure when this hurricane might hit us, and how long we would still have power on-campus or good phone connections. I went to sleep that night with a little uneasiness, but still no real worries. Tuesday morning, I awakened at 7 am and asked my classmate what the latest news was. He said it looked like Ivan had slowed down, but was still possibly going to hit us later that day. I looked outside, and the sky just looked cloudy and gray; nothing too unusual for the wet season in Grenada. Around noon, I decided to walk back to my apartment to get some electronic equipment that I had forgotten the night before. When I got back, things were starting to change in the sky. First, we had a clear, blue sky and SUNSHINE. Then, about an hour later, the sun disappeared, and now the winds were picking up, and waves near the shore were getting taller and stronger. I called my parents again to tell them hello, and right during the conversation, my phone went dead. Around 2 pm, we started intently watching the ocean from our windows. Waves were now bigger than I had ever seen them, and the palm trees were bending over from the ever-increasing I awakened Wednesday morning to a cloudy, hazy sky. We were told that we could now walk around outside because the storm had finally passed. When I took my first few steps outside, all I could see in front of me were hundreds of fragments of roof tiles that had been sliced during Ivan's rendezvous Sister Jill had a short stay here at Purdue University's Veterinary School due to the damage inflicted at St. George's University from Hurricane Ivan. For more pictures and information on how you can help the Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund, please follow these links: Carlton & Dana Jackson: UPCI Missionaries to Grenada/Windward Islands |
Well, I then decided to call my parents to at least make them aware that the university was concerned enough about this hurricane to cancel classes for one day. I considered this announcement significant because, in the 3 years that I have lived in Grenada, there had only been one other time that the university had cancelled classes, and it was when a tropical storm had blown through Grenada, and that storm arrived that night with lightning, thunder, and LOTS of wind and rain, which caused the power to go out at my apartment, but the campus was running with no problems, so we resumed class the next day. I had remembered that rough, stormy night was a little nerve-racking, but ended the next morning with no significant damage or effects. 
strength of the winds. Then, at 3:20 pm, September 7th, 2004, the power went out in the clinic, and just minutes after that, my classmate instructed everyone in the building to come away from the windows and lay down under either a bed or a desk. All of the sudden, we heard the distinct sound of windows breaking on the side of the building opposite from where I was laying. The winds started roaring through the broken windows, and debris was beginning to fly. (We would hear later that this was actually a Category 4 hurricane, and the winds were now gusting up to 135 mph). I moved under a bed with my classmates wife and 2 girls. We put pillows around the bed, and tried to sit still. About an hour later, we heard complete silence. The air was much cooler now, and I assumed that that was the end of our date with Hurricane Ivan. However, my medical classmate had been through hurricanes before, and he told us to get back under the bed because the eye of the storm has just passed over us, and the worst was yet to come. My classmates wife and I quickly brought another bed into the same area where we had previously lied huddled together, and then proceeded to make a better "shelter" for all of us 4 girls to lay under again. Soon, we heard the windows on our side of the building busting. The wind howled and screamed like the shrieking sound of a woman scared half to death. At 6 pm, we got out from under our beds, lit some candles, and were told that it was now safe to at least walk around inside the building. The wind howled and screamed for the rest of the night, and the ever-increasing rainfall began to leak through several different spots in the ceiling of our building.
with Grenada. I managed to safely walk across the street to a now caved-in roof and badly damaged building known as Bourne Lecture Hall and noticed that some students had formed a line into an office that had lost its double doors during the hurricane. I asked them what was going on, and they said that someone had found a phone that was still working. I was able to call my parents later that morning and began to cry with tears of relief assuring them that I was alive and well, and that I had survived this encounter with one of the most powerful hurricanes in history. Later that day, we all had to go back indoors and take cover one more time, because Ivans after effects caused another "sister storm" to blow through several hours behind it. After that, the island was calm, sunny, and dry for several days. The sea looked as if nothing had ever happened. However, the land in Grenada drew a much different picture: roofless houses, electric poles down, boats capsized in the harbor, every palm tree leafless, and many sad and confused faces of students and locals now unsure of their future. Hurricane Ivan had hit Grenada hard, and now we had to figure out how to survive without food, water, and, for many of my classmates, professors, and local friends, shelter.