{ "id": "2024-08-13-university-of-virgin-islands-tropical-storm-ernesto", "slug": "university-of-virgin-islands-tropical-storm-ernesto-2024-08-13", "institution": { "name": "University of the Virgin Islands", "shortName": "UVI", "state": "VI", "type": "territory", "alertSystemName": "UVI Bucs Alerts", "enrollment": 1800 }, "incident": { "date": "2024-08-13", "endDate": "2024-08-15", "type": "hurricane", "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification", "resolution": "confirmed-threat", "headline": "Both campuses closed early as Tropical Storm Ernesto approached; orientation postponed", "headlinePublic": "Both campuses closed early as Tropical Storm Ernesto approached; orientation postponed", "summary": "On Tuesday afternoon, August 13, 2024, the [University of the Virgin Islands](https://www.uvi.edu/news/2024/24_122_uvi_campuises_close_at_2_pm_today.html) closed both its St. Thomas campus and its Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix at 2 p.m. AST as [Tropical Storm Ernesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ernesto_(2024)) approached the U.S. Virgin Islands. The St. Thomas freshman Orientation scheduled for that evening was postponed to August 15, and the university directed all students and employees to enroll in [UVI Bucs Alerts](https://www.uvi.edu/about/emergency-preparedness.html) via BanWeb to receive emergency messages." }, "alerts": [ { "sequence": 1, "type": "initial", "timestamp": "2024-08-13T09:00:00-04:00", "channel": "email", "verbatimText": "In preparation for the approach of Tropical Storm Ernesto, the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) will close both of its campuses today at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 13. Tropical Storm Ernesto is projected to pass near or over the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this evening. Non-essential employees are asked to secure their workstations before leaving for the day to allow UVI's Essential Employees in Physical Plant and our Security Offices to properly complete all campus preparations for the storm, including closing shutters and placing sandbags by door thresholds.", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://www.uvi.edu/news/2024/24_122_uvi_campuises_close_at_2_pm_today.html", "sourceDescription": "UVI Official News: UVI Campuses to Close at 2 p.m. Today in Advance of Tropical Storm Ernesto", "annotations": [ "Issued Tuesday morning, August 13, 2024 AST, giving the UVI community roughly five hours to wrap up and leave before the 2:00 PM AST closure, short by mainland standards but consistent with UVI's hurricane operations posture for the small, island-bound community", "The notice explicitly preserves a two-tier workforce: 'non-essential' employees leave at 2 p.m. AST, 'Essential Employees in Physical Plant and our Security Offices' stay behind to install shutters and stage sandbags, a level of operational detail rarely included in mainland weather closures", "Mentioning 'shutters' and 'sandbags by door thresholds' grounds the notice in the physical reality of Caribbean campus hardening; both St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses sit in hurricane-vulnerable coastal zones still bearing damage from Irma and María (2017)", "The pairing of the closure with the postponement of freshman Orientation (initially set for the same evening) highlights how late-summer storms compress the start-of-semester window for UVI's roughly 1,800 students" ], "characterCount": 575 }, { "sequence": 2, "type": "all-clear", "timestamp": "2024-08-14T16:00:00-04:00", "channel": "email", "verbatimText": "The University of the Virgin Islands will reopen on Thursday, Aug. 15, following the passing of Hurricane Ernesto. UVI employees should report to work at their regularly scheduled times.", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/ernesto-update-1.html", "sourceDescription": "UVI OU-Alerts: Ernesto Update 1", "annotations": [ "Posted on the day Ernesto strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane after passing the USVI; by the time UVI cleared employees to return, the storm was already northeast of the islands and bearing down on Bermuda", "Notable verbal slip in the original source: the headline still says 'Tropical Storm' but the body and dateline reference 'Hurricane Ernesto', the storm crossed the named-storm threshold mid-event", "The 'regularly scheduled times' phrasing is bureaucratically conservative and signals to faculty/staff that there is no make-up obligation or shifted start, operations resume as if nothing happened" ], "characterCount": 186 } ], "context": "The [University of the Virgin Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Virgin_Islands) is the territory's only public university, with about 1,800 students split between the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix and the main campus on St. Thomas. Both islands sit directly in the Atlantic hurricane belt, and UVI's [emergency preparedness program](https://www.uvi.edu/about/emergency-preparedness.html) is built around the Bucs Alerts mass-notification system tied to each user's BanWeb profile. [Tropical Storm Ernesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ernesto_(2024)) formed on August 12, 2024, and crossed the northern Leeward Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands on the evening of August 13, dumping heavy rain and knocking out power across the territory. The University closed at 2 p.m. AST on Tuesday, August 13, and reopened Thursday, August 15, after Ernesto cleared and strengthened into a hurricane north of Puerto Rico. Local press [reported](https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/trees-shredded-streets-flooded-by-ernesto/article_c61b95a4-5a7f-11ef-bd85-c769aba60fc1.html) shredded trees and flooded streets on St. Thomas, and the broader USVI government followed UVI's lead, closing offices, schools and banks for the storm.", "keyFindings": [ "UVI's two-tier closure model (non-essential leave at 2 PM AST; Physical Plant + Security stay) is rarely published this explicitly in mainland weather notices and reflects the operational reality of a small, island-bound institution", "The mid-event headline mismatch ('Tropical Storm' vs. 'Hurricane' Ernesto) on UVI's reopening page shows how rapidly the system intensified after passing the USVI", "The Bucs Alerts system is opt-in via BanWeb personal-information page, not auto-enrolled, a configuration gap that UVI repeatedly addresses in its preparedness messaging", "UVI's response posture (close, secure, reopen 48 hours later) tracks closely with the territorial government's, reinforcing the integrated emergency-management relationship between UVI and VITEMA" ], "sources": [ { "title": "UVI Campuses to Close at 2 p.m. Today in Advance of Tropical Storm Ernesto: Orientation on St. Thomas Postponed", "url": "https://www.uvi.edu/news/2024/24_122_uvi_campuises_close_at_2_pm_today.html", "type": "official-archive" }, { "title": "UVI Campuses to Reopen on Thursday, Aug. 15", "url": "https://www.uvi.edu/ou-alerts/ernesto-update-1.html", "type": "official-archive" }, { "title": "Emergency Preparedness & Communication Methods (UVI)", "url": "https://www.uvi.edu/about/emergency-preparedness.html", "type": "official-archive" }, { "title": "Government Offices, Schools, and Banks Closed as Tropical Storm Ernesto Impacts USVI (VI Consortium)", "url": "https://viconsortium.com/vi-hurricane_season/virgin-islands-government-offices--schools--and-banks-closed-as-tropical-storm-ernesto-impacts-usvi", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Trees shredded, streets flooded by Ernesto (Virgin Islands Daily News)", "url": "https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/trees-shredded-streets-flooded-by-ernesto/article_c61b95a4-5a7f-11ef-bd85-c769aba60fc1.html", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Hurricane Ernesto (2024), Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ernesto_(2024)", "type": "other" } ], "confidence": "high", "tags": [ "hurricane", "tropical-storm", "ernesto", "weather", "us-virgin-islands", "caribbean", "territory", "st-thomas", "st-croix", "bucs-alerts", "evacuation", "campus-closure" ], "dateAdded": "2026-05-14", "lastUpdated": "2026-05-14", "addedBy": "ingestion" }