Hurricane Matthew urges over 1 mln to flee South Carolina

PanARMENIAN.Net - South Carolina began massive preparations to evacuate almost a quarter of its people Wednesday, October 5 as Hurricane Matthew crawled toward a weekend rendezvous with the state's Atlantic coast, NBC reports.

Gov. Nikki Haley said that unless the storm's course changes drastically overnight, a complete evacuation will begin at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday in the historic city of Charleston and other coastal communities. The region is home to 1.1 million people, almost 25 percent of the state's entire population — not including beach-goers and other tourists.

"We don't do voluntary or mandatory. It is an evacuation," Haley said at a news conference. "Our goal is to make sure you get 100 miles away from the coast."

State emergency officials made plans to reverse traffic on all four lanes of Interstate 26 from Charleston to Columbia. Authorities posted an interactive map of evacuation routes showing lane reversals on numerous other state and local roads ahead of the total shutdown of coastal South Carolina on Wednesday.

Matthew isn't expected to arrive until the weekend, but Haley said she issued the warning now because "it's not going to be a fast evacuation. It could take up to several hours."