{"id":349207,"date":"2025-11-02T01:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/349207\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T01:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T01:02:10","slug":"28-florida-residents-evacuated-from-jamaica-following-hurricane-melissa-devastation-desantis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/349207\/","title":{"rendered":"28 Florida residents evacuated from Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa devastation: DeSantis"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Florida officials successfully evacuated 28 residents from Jamaica following the devastation caused by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa<\/a>, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Saturday.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Jacksonville business owner shares firsthand account of Hurricane Melissa damage in Jamaica<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The Florida Division of Emergency Management began evacuation efforts Oct. 31, working closely with local authorities to bring stranded Floridians home safely. The rescue flight departed Jamaica earlier Saturday and landed at Tampa International Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout my time as governor, Florida has rescued our residents from warzones and in the wake of natural disasters,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cToday\u2019s operation in Jamaica brings stranded Floridians home in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. I am grateful for the efforts of our emergency management officials and partners who worked to make this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

FDEM Executive Director Kevin Guthrie praised the state\u2019s rapid response and coordination.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis rapid response reflects the strength of Florida\u2019s emergency management system and our commitment to providing timely, coordinated support,\u201d Guthrie said. \u201cThanks to Governor Ron DeSantis\u2019 decisive leadership and our team\u2019s swift action, we were able to help Floridians return home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, who greeted evacuees at Tampa International Airport, emphasized the state\u2019s commitment to its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to Governor DeSantis and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, we mobilized quickly to send relief flights and bring our citizens home safely following Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica,\u201d Collins said. \u201cToday, I was on the ground at Tampa International Airport to welcome these families as they arrived and to ensure they received the care and support they needed. Our state\u2019s strength is found in our people, and today that strength is on full display.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurricane Melissa made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica, on Oct. 28 as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. It is among the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin and the strongest to hit Jamaica. The storm caused widespread damage to homes, infrastructure and essential services across the island.<\/p>\n

This marks the third time under DeSantis\u2019 leadership that FDEM has assisted in evacuating Floridians from international crises. Previous missions included rescues from Haiti in 2024 and Israel in 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2013 Florida officials successfully evacuated 28 residents from Jamaica following the devastation caused by Category 5…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":349208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,166184,7310,18155,14516,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-349207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-hurricane-melissa","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jamaica","14":"tag-ron-desantis","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115477410359374965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}