I'm in the upstate of South Carolina and have many friends in Charleston SC. I am happy to see the governor has already taken steps to help the evacuations. Today at noon they are reversing the traffic on I-26 eastbound lanes to west bound lanes. This is a serious storm and I hope everyone takes heed to the warnings.
I do not understand how they can even do that. I know last year in Florida people just got on going the wrong way. Looks like that could have been a real mess when they started meeting cars head on. They it is all at a stand still.
Looks to me like (and I can be wrong here) but if everybody would get get in their car and drive the speed limit then traffic would continue to move. I wondered if they would have gas shortages because so many people are trying to fill up. We have had a couple of local stations in my town that were out of gas. Several pumps had bags over them this morning.
It's amazing that they were able to divert the traffic but they did. It does help. During hurricane Floyd my son was living in Charleston South Carolina. He was a professional dancer with Charleston Ballet Theater. He, his girlfriend and several other dancers all headed to our house. A normal drive to Charleston is 3 1/2 hours. They were on the road for over 9 hours. They did not divert traffic on I-26 that year and it was horrible. It was like a parking lot. They, along with other drivers on I-26 were very frustrated because the East bound lanes were empty. By the time they got to our house they were exhausted. I have a very small house but was glad to have them here so we knew they were all safe.
Everyone needs to heed the warnings and get out. Even if it turns out to not be as bad as they are predicting it's better to be safe. I saw a young couple on the news today with a small child who said they were not evacuating. They live on the barrier islands of North Carolina. I don't care if you're an adult and decide to try and ride it out but when you have a small child I believe it is irresponsible to not leave.
I do not see how even in heave traffic that the interstate can become a parking lot. If people would put their phones down and pull their head out of their butt and just DRIVE then it should move along smoothly. Just drive the speed limit and respect other drivers. Let people over when they need to get to the right in case that is where THEY need to get off. Then it would be fine.
The use rolling road blocks and shut down all entrance ramps when they reverse the traffic. I think I saw that yesterday. I was curious as to what happened if somebody did get on going the right way and they meet each other. I guess the ones going the wrong way would hit them and knock them off the road way.
It is sad that people can't pull together and help each other. I never saw or read the Hunger Games but from what I heard it reminds me of that. Everybody is fighting and THEY are going to survive. Instead of pulling together and helping each other.
Although I know several people in my area have said they are willing to take in pets. I have seen where some are saying they have room for a couple of horses.
I-26 is normally a great highway to drive. I love I-26. BUT when 1 million people have to evacuate from the coast and I-26 is the major way out it's a different story. It has nothing to do with people driving the speed limit. The highway was not built to accommodate 1 million people. Trust me, this hurricane is going to be catastrophic. It has very little to do with the "category" of the hurricane and has everything to do with the storm surges and continual rain it will bring. This is not fake news. It is going to be devastating.
It isn't going to be catastrophic or devastating. They have already downgraded it to a Cat 1. Well depending on which news source you hear. They said the same thing about Florida last year. Like I said, they were saying it was suppose to wipe Florida off the map. It didn't do anything like what they were screaming for days.
I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens. But somebody's news is fake because every source is saying something completely different. It cannot be a Cat 1 and a Cat 4 at the same time. One or the other is wrong. People act like this is the first hurricane to ever hit the mainland. This happens every year. And yes, according to some sources I am in the path - depending on which direction is takes.
There may be flooding on the beach but it won't be catastrophic. Honestly, I think the hype is just to take people's attention off of other things going on in the country right now. Like the election in November. That could be WAY more catastrophic that this hurricane. Or all of them put together.