Evacuations Have Been Ordered for Parts of Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia

By Caitlin Cruz | September 2, 2019 | 1:44am

Big Story

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has ordered a mandatory evacuation order for more than 830,000 people as Hurricane Dorian approaches the East coast. Earlier on Sunday, the storm made landfall in the northwest Bahamas as a Category 5 storm, NBC News reported.

McMaster also ordered schools to be closed on Tuesday as Monday is Labor Day, according to The State, a South Carolina newspaper in Columbia, SC.

Most Popular

“We know we can’t make everybody happy, but we believe we can keep everyone alive,” McMaster said when he announced the evacuation, according NBC News.

The evacuation plane starts at noon on Monday afternoon with highway lane reversals beginning at the same time, according to a release from the governor’s office. Dorian already made landfall with winds of 185 mph and gusts as high as 220 mph in the northern Bahamas, NBC News reported.

“We do not want people to be stuck on the highway,” McMaster said at a press conference, according to CBS News.

The Weather Channel reported that Dorian while a strong storm is still smaller than fellow Category 5 Katrina. But that hasn’t stopped evacuation orders in Georgia, too. On Sunday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ordered mandatory evacuations for coastal communities. They will also take affect on Monday at noon, CBS News reported.

There will also be mandatory evacuations in multiple counties in central Florida. The mandatory evacuations are for people who live “in the barrier islands, low-lying and flood-prone areas, mobile homes, and anyone with disabilities,” WESH reported.