At least three people are reported to have been killed as Hurricane Irma swept into Florida, carrying 200 km per hour winds and threatening to devastate large parts of the so-called Sunshine State.
Millions of people, including thousands of Indian-Americans, in Florida braced for “life- threatening” Hurricane Irma which hit the state’s southern islands on Sunday as a Category Four storm after leaving a trail of destruction across the Caribbean.
More than 6.3 million people were told to evacuate Florida, with warnings of a huge storm surge that would be “life-threatening” to anyone in its path.
Irma has already devastated parts of the Caribbean with at least 25 deaths. About 60 Indian nationals are being evacuated from the vacation island of St Martin in the Caribbean. The eye of the storm was 24 km southeast of Key West.
Around 1,20,000 Indian-Americans reside across Florida while thousands of them live in the now-dangerous zones of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.
The Indian embassy in the US has opened a round-the-clock helpline number and rushed senior diplomats to Atlanta to lead relief efforts for Indian-Americans stuck in the region. The hotline number is 202-258-8819.
The Indian Consulate in Atlanta tweeted helpline numbers (+14044052567 & +1678179393) for people seeking assistance.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted 24X7 helpline at High Commission of India, Kingston (+1876 833 4500; +1876 564 1378). He also tweeted email ids for Indians to contact in case of an emergency: hc.kingston@mea.gov.in; hoc.kingston@mea.gov.i.
