With Dorian forecast to hit SC, Gov. McMaster provides update on ‘quite a hurricane’

Sep. 1--Upgraded to a Category 5 storm Sunday morning, Hurricane Dorian is forecast to hit South Carolina this week.

After declaring a state of emergency Saturday, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster provided an update on preparations for Dorian.

McMaster held a news conference at the South Carolina Emergency Operations Center in Columbia along with state officials.

His update included orders for evacuations, lane reversals in addition to closing schools and state government offices along the South Carolina coast.

Evacuations are ordered to begin Monday at noon, the same time lane reversals will take effect on Interstate 26 and US-278 among other roads and highways.

Schools and state offices are already closed Monday for Labor Day, and they will remain shuttered in the affected counties on Tuesday and longer, McMaster said.

The governor also ordered medical evacuation to begin immediately for residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and hospitals.

"Out in the ocean is quite a hurricane," McMaster said of Dorian, which officials are monitoring around the clock. "Be prepared, we know it's coming."

The governor said he spoke with President Donald Trump earlier Sunday, saying the president pledged all federal support the state might need.

"I asked the president for a federal emergency declaration that will allow for direct federal resources to be accessed by team South Carolina to assist in hurricane prep efforts," McMaster said of the support he expects to receive.

"Hurricane Dorian is forecast to be a large, powerful storm with the potential to cause widespread, catastrophic damages in South Carolina," McMaster wrote in his letter requesting the federal declaration. "Our most current models show the potential for significant storm surge, wide spread power outages, hundreds of homes inundated by water, sectors of critical infrastructure impacted for long periods of time, and many other effects that will tax and surpass state and local capabilities."

Plans are underway to keep South Carolina's highways and roads running as smoothly as possible, with 2,000 Department of Transportation employees preparing, as well as thousands of members of the national guard and the Department of Public Safety also offering assistance.

The governor said that "state law enforcement, national guard and first responders have been fully mobilized."

"Last time with Hurricane Florence, we had a lot of flooding that we had never seen before," McMaster said. "Not in many, many years at the very least. So we are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. But the message is to be prepared. We know it's coming. It's going to affect everybody in the state to some degree. So be prepared."

Because of the declaration and impending storm, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said it is now at "Operational Condition One: Full Alert."

Because of that, "all state emergency response team personnel are activated or ready to deploy."

Additionally, the Department of Health and Environmental Control will notify all private dam owners to lower water levels to prepare for significant rainfall, said McMaster. The governor also said all emergency shelters across the state will be opened as needed.

The South Carolina Emergency Management Division has also fully stocked a warehouse in Winnsboro with more than 500 pallets of ready-to-eat military field rations, more than 750 pallets of bottled water, 150,000 sandbags and almost 10,000 blue tarps for temporary repairs.

"Everyone should be preparing now for potentially significant impacts along the coast Wednesday and Thursday," said National Weather Service Meteorologist John Quagliariello.

With sustained wind speeds of 185 mph, and wind gusts over 200 mph, the National Hurricane Center said Dorian was "devastating." It was heading to the Bahamas "with all its fury," NHC said.

President Trump tweeted about the storm Sunday morning, saying South Carolina and much of the Southeast "will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated."

"Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!" Trump said.

Dorian was moving west Sunday, toward the Bahamas, the NHC said. As of 2 p.m., Dorian made landfall on the Abaco Islands, where heavy rain and "life-threatening storm surge," was expected, according to the NHC.

The growing hurricane will approach Florida's east coast Monday, where it is expected move north up the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, the National Weather Service office in Columbia said in an 11 a.m. update.

"Some fluctuations in intensity are likely, but Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next few days," the release said.

"We live on the coast. So we're gonna have hurricanes," McMaster said. "This is one more of them."

Resources to help with preparedness can be found at the South Carolina Emergency Management website: scemd.org.

Staff writer Tom Barton contributed to this article.

___

(c)2019 The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Visit The State (Columbia, S.C.) at www.thestate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.