Written Question·Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office·UIN 91990

Turks and Caicos Islands: Hurricanes and Tornados

Tabled: 18 November 2025
Answered: 25 November 2025

Question

Wendy Morton

ConservativeAldridge-Brownhills

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the pre-deployment of UK military teams to the Turks and Caicos Islands ahead of Hurricane Melissa, and whether similar pre-deployment strategies will be adopted in future hurricane seasons.

Answer

Chris Elmore

The UK military team pre-deployed to the Turks and Caicos Islands supported the disaster management preparations, response and recovery work as needed.

After Hurricane Melissa passed, HMS Trent redeployed to Jamaica. HMS Trent was equipped with humanitarian and disaster relief trained troops and crisis response equipment. It provided swift access to affected areas and the delivery of essential supplies, specialist recovery personnel, transport and damage assessments.

Similar pre-deployment strategies will be considered as part of response options in future hurricane seasons.