MASS EXODUS

Hurricane Florence: South Carolina’s Two Biggest Highways Become One-Way Roads for Evacuations

Authorities sent all traffic on Interstate 26 and U.S. 501 in one direction.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced that authorities would be sending all traffic on the state’s two busiest highways in one direction as residents evacuate before Hurricane Florence makes landfall, The Weather Channel reports. The eastbound lanes of Interstate 26 into Charleston and U.S. 501 into Myrtle Beach have been reversed, sending all the traffic away from the coastline. The state predicts about one million residents will evacuate. McMaster dropped the mandatory evacuations for a majority of the Jasper, Beaufort, and Colleton coastal counties on Tuesday morning, but insisted that residents in certain “low-lying” regions to leave. “This is still a very dangerous storm, and you must take it seriously,” McMaster said on Tuesday. “We are in a very deadly and important game of chess with Hurricane Florence.” Local schools and three universities closed starting Tuesday, allowing state authorities to use school busses for evacuations and the facilities for emergency shelters.