UAE evacuates Florida citizens as Hurricane Ian ravages state

as Hurricane Ian In hard-hit Florida, the United Arab Emirates began evacuating its citizens from southern U.S. states on Thursday.

Photos of the evacuations shared by the UAE embassy on Twitter showed some Emiratis arriving in the capital, Washington.

“According to the UAE leadership’s instructions and oversight of the ambassador Yusuf Otaibathe UAE Embassy in Washington D.C. is evacuating Emiratis from Florida to the US capital to ensure they are safe from Hurricane Ian,” a tweet from the embassy read.

On Wednesday evening, Shaima Gargash and Brig Gen Rashid Al Kaabi, Deputy Heads of Mission of the UAE Embassy, ​​led the field work and received the evacuees in Washington.

They will stay at a hotel in the area at the expense of the embassy.

In a press release, the UAE embassy said 141 Emiratis had been evacuated.

“The evacuation plan includes various means of transporting UAE nationals out of Florida: chartering private jets [for 119 evacuees]Reserving Seats on Commercial Flights [for 13 evacuees]in addition to letting people drive out of Florida [9 people drove private cars]where they were safely evacuated to Washington, D.C.,” the embassy said.

The plan is developed by the Embassy’s Emergency and Crisis Committee, which includes Embassy staff as well as personnel from various technical offices, scholarship agencies and other organisations.

Due to severe weather and difficulty finding commercial flights to the U.S. capital, in some cases, evacuations were made to multiple neighboring countries believed to be far from the hurricane’s path.

“Our embassy ensures that we are taking all necessary precautions to keep Emirati nationals in the US safe,” Ms Gargash said.

Hurricane Ian It made landfall in Florida on Wednesday and left a devastating trail in the Southwest, flooding streets and leaving more than 2.5 million people without power.

Hurricane Ian makes landfall in US – in pictures

Updated: September 29, 2022 9:56pm