Hurricane Season 2025: Grenada prepares with bold plans, big lessons, and a call to action

As only one day is left for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season to begin, Grenada is stepping up its efforts to ensure the nation is prepared better than before as it faced a catastrophic damage from last year’s Beryl. The National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) held a special conference, where officials and disaster management experts gathered to reflect on the 2024 season and lay out successful plans towards a more proactive, resilient and community driven approach for this year’s disaster preparedness.  

The officials discussed the lessons learnt from last year’s Beryl, which cost millions of damages to the island in rehabilitation. The authorities unveiled several strategies to ensure that this year it remains resilient from the impact of the hurricane season.  

2024 in review: Hurricane Beryl 

The 2024 hurricane season was one of the most unpredictable and intense in history with Beryl, a Category 5 hurricane that struck the Caribbean islands too early in the season. It created havoc among the people of the Caribbean and caused the most damage to Grenada’s sister islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.  

The 2024 season was more than just a hurricane season for Grenada, it was havoc for the people of the island, a natural calamity that destroyed not just their homes but shattered their dreams.  

“The 2024 season was a pretty exciting one for those of us in the midfield. It was, of course, record breaking in many aspects,” the head of the meteorological office, Gerard Tema stated.  

NADMA’s response and new efforts

In response to the intense and proactive 2025 hurricane season, Dr Terrence Walters, Grenada’s National Disaster Coordinator, highlighted that NADMA is committed to help Grenada with a swift and timely response as they managed to do in the last season.  

Dr Walters emphasized that the country requires thousands of volunteers to manage shelters and support district teams, emphasizing it as a big challenge. He also shed light that NADMA has received mosquito nets, shovels, construction kits and powerful generators which will be distributed across different constituencies and district teams to improve local response capacity.  

“It is not if an event will occur, but it is when… We must continue to adopt the whole of government, whole of country, whole of community approach to ensure that we prepare ourselves for the hazards, both natural and man-made,” he stated.  

RGPF’s Frontline preparedness  

The superintendent Paul Christopher of the Royal Grenada Police Force who was in attendance at the conference highlighted how RGPF is committed to adapt to laws and carry out all the rescue and emergency operations during the hurricane season. He highlighted the role of RGPF during emergencies and said that they are committed to coordinating in alerting residents, protecting infrastructure and ensuring post storm security.  

The force begins drills and inventory checks months in advance and works closely with the communities in order to prepare for evacuations and emergencies, the superintendent said. 

“I urge persons to stay safe and stay indoors… you are actually putting persons — the officer's life — at risk by having to get out of the safe area, during the blow, and having to come to rescue you,” he concluded.  

Cathy-Ann James calls residents to take shelter preparedness seriously  

The head of the Shelter Management Committee, Cathy-Ann James called out all the residents to take shelter preparedness seriously, and know where to go, and what to bring while they go out into shared spaces. She also highlighted that all the early inspections of the shelters for the upcoming season are completed, and they are ready for the 2025 season.  

“You must be prepared. There are supplies that you must have to make sure that you are there three days with your rice. So you have to have water… food… medication,” she stated.  

Meteorologist says 2025 as another active season  

Gerard Tema, the meteorologist department’s head warned residents that 2025 is going to be a heavy hurricane year. According to reports from Colorado State University, there are a total of 17 named storms. The met department has urged Grenadians to stay precautious during the hurricane season and follow all official updates from the met department.