NIKKI HALEY URGES COASTAL RESIDENTS TO GET MOVING …
What if you mandated a massive evacuation … and nobody evacuated?
S.C. governor Nikki Haley is confronting precisely such a scenario in her home state as Hurricane Matthew approaches the east coast.
According to Haley, only 175,000 coastal residents have heeded her warning and evacuated in advance of the storm.
“That is not enough,” Haley said.
We asked yesterday whether coastal residents were staying or leaving in response to Haley’s evacuation order (and subsequent lane reversals on Interstate 26 and other major thoroughfares). Clearly the answer is “staying,” which we’re guessing is a response to recent forecasts showing Matthew’s projected path moving farther off the Palmetto State coastline.
Haley ordered evacuations for Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties effective at 3:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. This afternoon (Thursday) at 12:00 p.m. EDT additional evacuations for Georgetown and Horry counties will take effect, although Haley said there were currently no plans to reverse traffic lanes on major thoroughfares in those counties.
Why would there be?
Clearly nobody is going anywhere … at least not yet.
To be clear: We don’t think Haley erred in pulling the trigger on these evacuations. Based on the information available to her at the time, we think she made (and has continued to make) the right decisions.
More than one million South Carolinians live along the state’s 187-mile coastline. In calling for evacuations earlier this week, Haley urged them to move at least 100 miles inland.
(Banner image via S.C. Governor’s Office)