UK warship to help Caribbean community affected by Hurricane Beryl

London: A British warship, deployed to the Caribbean since the end of 2023, will arrive in the Cayman Islands this weekend to offer support following the devastation brought in the region this week by Hurricane Beryl.

Royal Navy warship HMS Trent, an Offshore Patrol Vessel, will be ready to offer assistance with equipment and support to help communities affected by flooding and storm damage, the UK Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.

The hurricane, which has previously been rated Category 5, could bring winds of more than 155mph and has already caused a large amount of destruction in the region this week.

HMS Trent has a crew of over 50 sailors and departed from Puerto Rico on Wednesday, carrying bottled water, basic emergency supplies, and equipment.

According to the UK government, the ship has a Crisis Response Troop embarked, comprising members of 24 Commando Royal Engineers and their equipment, and further augmented with personnel to support planning, information operations, meteorological forecasting, and image capture.

"Additional personnel include a team from 700X Naval Air Squadron who provide HMS Trent’s embarked PUMA Flight (Remote Piloted Air System), allowing them to conduct airborne reconnaissance and damage assessment in direct support of 24 Commando activity," it said in a statement Thursday.

A specialist Rapid Deployment Team has already travelled to the Eastern Caribbean to provide consular assistance to any affected British Nationals.

The UK said that it continues to work with the Caribbean's crisis response organisation, CDEMA, to provide assistance for the worst affected islands, including St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.

Hurricane Beryl has been described as the earliest ever Category 5 storm to form in the Atlantic, with storms of this scale usually recorded later in the summer.