Published on: The Jewish Chronicle
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By: Sonia Zhuravlyova
Around 655,000 Jews live in Florida. The Jewish Community Services of South Florida, which serves some half a million Jewish residents, has been calling vulnerable residents, many of them pensioners, to ensure they have adequate supplies of food and water and encouraging them to leave for more secure, government-run centres.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a prominent Charedi rabbi, has stated that Jews may travel on Shabbat to escape the catagory five hurricane, one of the largest ever to hit the region. Wind speeds of 185mph were recorded on Thursday, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.
More than 100,000 residents have been given mandatory evacuation alerts g, and more than a million people ordered to leave their homes along coastal areas, mostly from the densely populated Miami-Dade County.