UAE evacuates citizens from Florida ahead of Hurricane Dorian

In a tweet, the embassy said that nearly 70 UAE nationals, some GCC nationals and an Indian citizen were evacuated from Miami to Washington DC ahead of the hurricane.

Embassy team received 70 evacuees this evening on a charter plane after departing from Miami ahead of hurricane Dorian scheduled to hit landfall. Amongst the evacuees were a number of GCC nationals and a UAE resident of Indian origin whom will be escorted to their accomodation. pic.twitter.com/SLtnliRSKj

— UAE Embassy US (@UAEEmbassyUS) September 1, 2019

“The UAE embassy in Washington DC has arranged for a private charter plane to evacuate all our nationals who have not left the state yet,” the deputy head of the diplomatic mission, Shaima Gargash, told the Khaleej Times.

“The UAE embassy in Washington DC and its various annexes (military attache, political attache, cultural attache, Adnoc Office) including the UAE consulate in New York, have reached out to almost all UAE nationals,” she added.

According to Gargash, every UAE national is being contacted individually by the embassy and its various missions. Evacuations began on Saturday, August 31.

In an earlier tweet, the UAE’s consulate in New York advised UAE nationals in Georgia and the Carolinas to take precautionary measures and follow the directives of authorities.

(1) Attn #UAE citizens currently in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina: Please continue to monitor #HurricaneDorian closely by watching your local news and following instructions of local emergency services. pic.twitter.com/yfLU9eirz2

— UAE Consulate in NYC (@UAEinNYC) August 31, 2019

While US media has reported that a majority of computer models predict Dorian to remain off of Florida’s coast, the National Hurricane Center has repeatedly urged those in Florida or the Carolinas to prepare for an “extremely dangerous” hurricane.