More than 200 Americans have now been rescued from Haiti and flown to Florida since emergency airlifts began about three weeks ago.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on April 2 that 220 Americans have been successfully evacuated from Haiti by the Florida Division of Emergency Management since the first flight on March 20.
Of that total, 95 percent have been Floridians.
All were evacuated without charge.
The division did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request to confirm the number of flights conducted within that time frame before publication.
“When Floridians and other Americans are in need, the State of Florida acts,” the governor said in a press release.
“I’m pleased to announce that we’ve been able to successfully rescue more than 200 Floridians and other Americans from Haiti. Even when the federal government fails to act, Florida will always step up.”
Upon landing in Florida, evacuees were given immediate access to a multi-agency resource center provided by the Division of Emergency Management that provides food and water, transportation home, basic medical and health screenings, lodging, ID replacement, mental health services, and phones and charging stations.
A family reunification center was also offered.
“Being able to support our residents in this time of crisis is because of Governor DeSantis’ leadership and the collaboration between our state agencies and private and nonprofit partners,” said division Executive Director Kevin Guthrie.
“I am proud of the State Emergency Response Team for working around the clock to coordinate these emergency flights and get Floridians home safely.”
Florida’s private sector is also at work to help bring Americans home from the gang-violence-torn Caribbean nation.
Tampa-based Project Dynamo confirmed to The Epoch Times that it has been at work rescuing some of the estimated hundreds of Americans last month.
Project Dynamo also performed operations in Israel to get Americans out as war broke out after the Oct. 7 massacres that killed more than 1200 Israelis.
The State Department coordinated some flight operations, confirming 30 Americans landing safely on March 17 and another 80 on March 21, but their operations since have been limited.
From there, the department said that the government was attempting to arrange flights back to the United States.
The State Department also said the Dominican Republic would allow U.S. citizens to cross the land border, but citizens would have to do so without the government’s help.
However, most of the gang activity has been focused around Port-au-Prince, and the State Department advised citizens that they should “assess their own safety and security when deciding whether to travel by road in Haiti.”
The federal government has been criticized harshly for its lack of leadership in the evacuation efforts.
Florida’s Division of Emergency Management also provided completed Haiti Assistance forms to the State Department so non-Floridian Americans could get a federally-coordinated flight home.
