COLUMBIA — A 5 a.m. Wednesday update from the National Hurricane Center shows Hurricane Matthew’s latest projected track shifting east on Saturday, with a potential landfall still expected in South Carolina, but a lighter impact on the state. The Upstate continues to be outside of the hurricane track.
On Tuesday, Gov. Nikki Haley announced plans to evacuate more than 1 million residents from the coastal areas of South Carolina beginning Wednesday afternoon in advance of Hurricane Matthew’s projected arrival in the state’s waters this weekend.
The massive evacuation and the lane reversals on Interstate 26 are set to begin at 3 p.m. Wednesday but Haley said the time could be delayed as conditions warrant.
The Carolinas were bracing for a possible direct hit from Matthew, which carried 140 mph winds Tuesday as it tore through the Caribbean heading for the Bahamas and a possible track into South or North Carolina, according to the National Hurricane Center. At least seven people died from the storm as of Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
“I would love nothing more than to see this just suddenly take a right hand turn and head back out to sea, but as of right now, we’re looking at Friday night into Saturday being pretty brutal,” Haley told reporters at the state Emergency Management Division’s operations center.
The governor also declared a state of emergency Tuesday morning, a step already used by the governors of North Carolina and Florida to trigger federal assistance and to enable the use of the National Guard.
The evacuations are not labeled mandatory or voluntary anymore, Haley said. “An evacuation is an evacuation.”
EVACUATION ROUTES: http://www.sctraffic.org/evacroutes.html
Asked what would happen if people refuse to leave, Haley said she is encouraging everyone to depart.
“Our goal is to try and save everybody that we can,” she said. “What I will tell those people who are thinking of not leaving, if you think you can take care of yourself, at least think of my law enforcement and my National Guardsmen because they are the ones that will have to go out and try to get you and you’re putting their lives at stake when you allow that to happen just because you refuse to leave.”
Greenville County is sending 235 regular school buses and 108 special needs school buses to help move residents out of Charleston ahead of the storm. Because of this assistance, Greenville County Schools will not run bus routes Wednesday. Students with no other way to get to school will be excused.
Haley urged people to go ahead and leave if they can, because the evacuation process will not be quick. Haley said evacuees should expect to spend hours on the road, though “comfort stations” will be set up to help people who need water or bathrooms.
“It’s not going to be a fast evacuation,” the governor said.
Haley said the goal is to get everyone on or near the coast to move at least 100 miles inland before the storm’s projected impact this weekend and to do so in phases to avoid tying up in knots the intersection of Interstate 20 and 26 in Columbia, known by motorists as Malfunction Junction.
More than 3,700 law enforcement will be on the roads to aid in evacuations, Haley said.
She said the lane reversals, comfort stations and law enforcement presence are designed to avoid a situation similar to the evacuation debacle in the path of Hurricane Floyd in 1999, before the use of lane reversals.
“Everybody has done their homework,” she said of state preparations.
Some people in Columbia reacted to the news Tuesday evening by running to grocery stores and gas stations. Several convenience stores and gas stations were packed with cars early Tuesday evening.
Schools in more than a dozen counties, as far inland as Richland County, will close Wednesday and some will be used as shelters, the governor said. State offices in coastal counties also will be closed. Greenville and most of the Upstate is still not in the direct path of the storm. Evacuees may be directed to Greenville’s TD Convention Center and other locations. Some schools may also be used as shelters. If that is necessary, GCS said school cancellations will be considered.
PREPARING FOR A HURRICANE: http://www.sctraffic.org/hurricaneinfo.html
According to advisories by the National Hurricane Center, the Category 4 storm is projected to pass through the Bahamas Thursday, weaken some and then hug the Florida coastline before turning to the northeast and the Carolinas.
The cone of the storm’s possible path, however, stretched from the Midlands to eastern North Carolina.
The advisory noted that the storm was crossing the eastern tip of Cuba but did not change any watches or projections.
At 11 pm, the NHC said Matthew had weakened and slowed some, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and a forward speed of 8 mph. But the storm remained a Category 4 hurricane.
Forecasters once again slightly shifted the path of the eye in the Carolinas, this time slightly away from the coast, especially in North Carolina, where it’s arrival is now forecast 12 hours later, at 8 pm Saturday.
Hurricane winds extend up to 45 miles from the center of the storm, while tropical-storm force winds stretch 175 miles, according to the NHC. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of near 140 mph as of 5 pm, chugging north at 9 mph.
“Some fluctuations in intensity are possible during the next couple of days, but Matthew is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through at least Thursday night,” the NHC said in its advisory.
The forecasters noted that it is difficult to be accurate in a hurricane’s projected path beyond three days.
“When a hurricane is forecast to take a track roughly parallel to a coastline, as Matthew is forecast to do from Florida through South Carolina, it becomes very difficult to estimate impacts this far in advance,” NHC Forecaster Lixion Avila wrote. “For example, only a small deviation of the track to the left of the NHC forecast could bring the core of a major hurricane onshore, while a small deviation to the right could keep all of the hurricane-force winds offshore. It will likely take another day or so for the potential impacts of Matthew in the United States to clarify.”
The NHC earlier posted a hurricane watch from Golden Beach, Fla. to Deerfield Beach, Fla., meaning hurricane conditions are possible, generally within 48 hours.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory issued a state of emergency for 66 of the state’s 100 counties Monday afternoon.
Meteorologist Jim Cantore said regardless if it’s a direct hit, massive waves can be expected along the Carolina coast later this week.
The Citadel is is alerting students and parents of potential changes to Parents Weekend, which is scheduled to begin on Friday. The school plans to make a decision by 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
College of Charleston announced it will close campus at 6 p.m. Tuesday until further notice.
Charleston Southern University is closing its campus due to the potential impact of Hurricane Matthew. All classes and campus activities will end at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday. Athletic events that had been scheduled are postponed until further notice.
University of South Carolina officials said the Columbia campus would be closed Wednesday and they anticipated the school to be closed Thursday and Friday.
South Carolina High School League officials have postponed the state swimming championships that were set for this weekend in Columbia. That meet will be held the weekend of Oct. 14-15. Times will remain the same.
Haley urged people along the coast to watch over their neighbors, as they had during last year’s historic floods, and not to take the storm lightly.
“This is not something we want to play with,” she said. “I don’t want to sit there and talk about fatalities. Our goal is to save anybody we can.”
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2016/10/03/carolinas-bracing-hurricane-matthew/91480320/