United States

National Guard Evacuates People Stranded on St. Maarten

The U.S. military and national guard members from various states have deployed to the Caribbean to provide aid to survivors and help evacuate people stranded following Hurricane Irma.

Dozens of people were evacuated from the island of St. Maarten via Carolina, Puerto Rico, in video released Friday by the New York Air National Guard's 105th Airlift Wing.

USS Wasp arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands Thursday and helped evacuate critical care patients from St. Thomas to St. Croix, according to U.S. Northern Command. 

The U.S. Virgin Islands has access to C-130s from the Illinois and North Carolina Air National Guard, two medevac Black Hawks and 20 guard members from Kentucky, read to eat meals from Rhode Island National Guard. As of Saturday, the National Guard Bureau showed 625 members were helping there.

More than 375 members of the Army National Guard were at work in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Navy has moved the aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, into the region, bringing the total of ships in the area to seven. USS Farragut, USS Kearsarge, USS Oak Hill, USS Iwo Jima and USS New York are in the region.

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