As Hurricane Florence barrels toward the Southeast as a Category 4 storm, South Carolina’s governor has ordered evacuations along the state’s entire coastline — which could affect up to a million people.
“We know that this evacuation order is going to be inconvenient for some people,” Gov. Henry McMaster said at a news conference on Monday afternoon, “but we do not want to risk one South Carolinian’s life.”
Schools will be closed starting Tuesday in the affected counties and state officials will reverse lanes on four major roads leading to the coast to assist with the evacuation.
“We are not going to gamble with the lives of the people of South Carolina,” McMaster, a Republican, said.
North and South Carolina are anticipated to bear the brunt of Florence, which the National Hurricane Center said on Monday had strengthened to a Category 3 storm. An hour later, at noon, the agency tweeted that Florence had grown again to a Category 4, with maximum sustained winds near 130 mph.
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