Hurricane Florence threatens the Carolinas; 1 million order to evacuate

ATLANTA – Hurricane Henry McMaster of South Carolina quickly ordered more than one million people living in eight coastal counties to evacuate inland.

"We do not want to risk a life in South Carolina in this hurricane," said the governor at a press conference Monday afternoon.

Evacuations were also ordered in parts of North Carolina as the region prepared for a destructive hurricane that would hit Thursday or Friday, with devastating winds, torrential rains and a potentially destructive storm surge.

The evacuation order of South Carolina takes effect at noon Tuesday. Governor McMaster said the lanes of two major divided highways – Interstate 26 and American University 501 – would be reversed to make roads one-way, carrying only traffic away from the coast, and vice versa. Schools and state offices in about half of the state would be closed as of Tuesday, the governor said.

Hurricane Florence quickly turned into a major storm on Monday as it was crossing the Atlantic Ocean towards the Carolinas coast. The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm at noon for Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, indicating sustained winds of 130 to 156 miles per hour. The upgrade took place just an hour after the center put the storm into category 3.

The forecast models show that the hurricane is headed to a location near the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. Destructive winds that extend up to 140 miles in all directions from the center of the storm can be felt on the shore as early as Wednesday night.

In the coastal region of Dare County, North Carolina, the local emergency management agency announced a mandatory evacuation order Monday at noon for all residents and visitors to Hatteras Island, the long island of North Carolina coast.

A similar order will come into effect Tuesday for other neighboring communities, including Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Roanoke Island, Duck, Manteo, Southern Shores and Mainland Dare County, according to a county statement.

Social media users said stores in both states were buying bottled water and other supplies as residents prepared for the storm.

The hurricane center warned that in addition to the destructive winds, the "extremely dangerous" storm created two types of threats: a sea-salt wave along the coast and heavy rains in the interior. along much of the east coast.