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Nearly one year after Hurricane Maria, Florence rekindles memories for relocated students

"I have friends in med school on the East Coast there in North Carolina who have contacted us looking for places to stay, asking for recommendations in this area. And of course that brings back just a flood of memories of our own experiences just a year ago."

Nearly a year after Hurricane Maria slammed the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea, evacuees who have found a place to stay in Knoxville are watching their friends face the same circumstances that Hurricane Florence now presents.

Micah Renicker was on the island when Ross University School of Medicine was mostly destroyed by the storm. His school held classes on Lincoln Memorial University's campus in Knoxville as the island rebuilt. He ended up putting his experiences into the book "Surviving Hurricane Maria."

"There's no way that we haven't been profoundly impacted by that kind of a storm," Renicker said. "There's no way to describe, really to put into words a category five hurricane."

Hurricane Maria hit Dominica on September 18, 2017. Hurricane Florence is forecast to his the cost of the Carolinas almost exactly one year later.

"I have friends in med school on the East Coast there in North Carolina who have contacted us looking for places to stay, asking for recommendations in this area," Renicker said. "And of course that brings back just a flood of memories of our own experiences just a year ago."

Renicker says the experience taught him the value of community.

"As we look at these approaching, the people are in our thoughts and prayers and we recognize the impact it can have on their life," Renicker said.

Renickers says RUMC has informed students that they will return to the Caribbean in January of 2019. This time, the campus will be on the island of Barbados.

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