Amid humanitarian crisis, state officials race to evacuate 165 Florida children stuck in Haiti
The Florida Division of Emergency Management is continuing their around-the-clock work to bring home over 400 Floridians stranded in Haiti.
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On Wednesday, Channel 9 showed you as the first state-chartered flight touched down at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, bringing 14 Floridians home.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management was hopeful that close to 100 Floridians would come home on 4 state-chartered flights on Thursday, but a permitting issue made that impossible.
The state is now hopeful those flights will arrive on Friday.
“We are looking in a much better place right now,” said Kevin Guthrie, the Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, “We are now working in conjunction with congressional aides and congressional staff to get those helicopters released.”
Guthrie explained that Haitian authorities stopped helicopters from taking off from the Cap-Haitien airport because of a permitting issue.
The division planned to use helicopters to airlift people out of Port-au-Prince, travelling over 100 miles above gang-controlled territory to get to flights waiting for them at the Cap-Haitien airport.
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The state said 95 percent of those requesting rescues are in Port-au-Prince.
“Infrastructure is disrupted by these gangs that kind of like control the different roads and access points. The rest of the island is kind of choked off,” explained Marc Pierre-Louis, the PR Chair for the Greater Haitian American Chamber of Commerce in Orlando.
Pierre-Louis explained there are limited options for Haitian-American trying to escape, with the 2 main roads to Cap-Haitien under gang control.
He said some are fleeing by boat to the Dominican Republic, others are taking risks to try and get to the Cap-Haitien airport themselves, and others still are hoping for a helicopter rescue from either the U.S. Department of State or the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
“The easiest way to get out is a commercial flight, and that’s not available. So you need to have the resources beyond what would be a regular commercial flight to get out,” said Pierre- Louis.
The United States Department of State has said nearly 1,000 Americans have reached out to them for help evacuating Haiti.
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Meanwhile, Guthrie said the State of Florida has heard from 403 Floridians who need to be evacuated, 165 of those are children.
He said in total 550 Americans have told the State of Florida they need help being evacuated via a recently launched Florida Division of Emergency Management portal.
Guthrie said so far, there are no overlapping names on the State of Florida’s and the U.S. Department of State’s list.
Guthrie also said moving forward the division hopes to shift its rescue strategy.
He made a plea asking officials in the Dominican Republic to let helicopters take off from Dominican airspace.
“We do a lot of great detailed verification and vetting before we put any anybody in harm’s way,” said Guthrie, “To the Dominican Republic, if you happen to see this, please, we ask that you sign our paperwork, let us start moving into and out of your country.”
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