PM Gonsalves requests prayers as Category-4 storm approaches Jamaica

As Jamaica braces for a direct hit from Hurricane Melissa, Prime

Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsavles has urged Vincentians to pray for the

country and for the safety of Vincentians living and studying there.

“As happy as this day is, I first must ask us to raise our prayers for our

brothers and sisters in Jamaica who are currently facing an immediate

peril…,” the Prime Minister requested as he prepared to deliver an

address on Saturday evening, October 25,2025 at the official opening of

the Modern Port in Kingstown.

“We want to express our solidarity with the government and people of

Jamaica; and I want also, especially to say to our students who are at

The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, and those who are at

the University of Technology in Jamaica and other institutions, and

Vincentians living and working in Jamaica. I want you to know that our

thoughts are with you, and I ask that we send up to Almighty God our

prayers for their safe keeping, for their comfort and for their lives and

living”.

News reports out of the northern Caribbean island indicate that people

in multiple parishes in Jamaica are already being impacted by strong

winds, torrential rain, and increasingly rough seas associated with the

approaching hurricane. Hurricane Melissa is the 13 th named storm for

the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane season, and has already done much

damage in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, including the loss of lives.

Dr. Gonsalves said he has been in touch with the Vice-Chancellor of The

University of the West Indies (UWI), Sir Hilary Beckles, who advised him

of the steps being taken by the university to ensure the safety of

students in residence. He also shared with the audience at the opening

ceremony for the new port, as well as those following via other means

that he had also been in touch with the president and vice president of

the Vincentian Students Association in Jamaica who, though naturally

anxious, had reported that all was well at the time. The Prime Minister

said he had spoken as well to several parents of students studying in

Jamaica.

“As we celebrate here this evening, I ask you presently, quietly, send up

a prayer for all the people of Jamaica and our students.”

The Prime Minister, whose administration is still dealing with the

rebuilding in the Southern Grenadines following the passage of

Category 4 Hurricane Beryl on July, 1, 2024, promised to keep in touch

with them the students, and noted that the danger is often not so much

in the hurricane itself, but in its aftermath.

Melissa, which was still a Tropical Storm on Saturday morning has since

strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane on Sunday, and CBS has

reported the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre as saying that the

storm’s impacts on Jamaica could be “life-threatening and

catastrophic”.

It reports the agency as stating that Hurricane Mellissa is likely to reach

the southern coast of Jamaica late on Monday or Tuesday morning. The

hurricane is moving west at 3-mph, and forecasters have said it could

strengthen into a Category 5 storm before weakening back into a

Category 4 as it makes landfall in Jamaica.