South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has said she is planning to issue an evacuation order on Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Matthew so that as many as 1 million people can safely and comfortably leave the coast.
Haley said at a Tuesday news conference that she will finalize the order Wednesday morning, unless there is a major shift in the storm’s track, according to The Associated Press.
The evacuation will start at around 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday. State officials say lanes on major evacuation routes will be reversed.
It would be the state’s first major evacuation since Hurricane Floyd in 1999, when the governor at the time didn’t reverse the lanes and Interstate 26 became backed up for hours and traffic was left at a standstill. A two-hour drive from Charleston to Columbia turned into a 24-hour disaster for drivers.
“If you can leave early do that, the goal is to not leave all at once,” Haley said, according to WLTX. She said that storm surges of 5 to 7 feet are a possibility, while winds of 100 mph or more are expected.
“As of right now we’re looking for Friday night into Saturday being pretty brutal,” Haley said.
A hurricane watch was issued for portions of Florida on Tuesday as Hurricane Matthew slammed the Caribbean, hammering Haiti with rain and wind.
The cyclone could hit Florida midday on Thursday, while the storm could linger around for as long as a day, according to the National Hurricane Center.
