The governors of South Carolina and Georgia ordered over one million residents to evacuate their coasts beginning Monday, this coming after Hurricane Dorian left devastation in the northwest Bahamas and heads for the U.S. East Coast. As of press time, Hurricane Dorian has killed at least 5 in the Bahamas.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp both announced mandatory evacuation orders to take effect at noon Monday in advance of the arrival of Dorian, now a Category 4 hurricane.
The South Carolina order covers all of Beaufort and Charleston counties and parts of the rest of the state’s coastal counties, which state officials estimated covered 830,000 people.
The Georgia order covers people who live east of Interstate 95 in the counties along the Atlantic coast; that includes Savannah and most of its 150,000 residents, as well as more than 50,000 in coastal communities like Brunswick, St. Marys and Richmond Hill. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, in Camden County, told its 15,000 military and civilian personnel and their families to expect an announcement soon.
Dorian is forecast to remain a hurricane for the next four to five days. Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect Sunday afternoon for parts of the Florida coast, where the storm was expected to move beginning Monday night or Tuesday, forecasters said.
