Two million people have been ordered or urged to evacuate their homes in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas before Hurricane Matthew, the largest storm to hit the Southeast in a decade, makes landfall late Thursday and tears up the East Coast through the weekend.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said on Wednesday the 1.5 million residents who have been ordered to leave may make this the “biggest evacuation ever.” South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has asked 500,000 to evacuate. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has requested 50,000 people move inland.
The National Hurricane Center estimates the Category 3 storm could increase to a Category 4 following its departure from the Caribbean islands to the warm ocean waters. It passed through the Bahamas with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and has killed 26 people thus far.
Nearly 1,600 flights for Wednesday through Friday have been canceled in anticipation for the storm. Half of those flights were based out of airports in South Florida, where the storm is expected to hit hardest.
Scott asked Obama on Wednesday night to declare a pre-landfall emergency for the state, which would include food, water and tarps, as well as additional emergency responders. The governor also spoke with leaders representing Florida’s 67 counties to nail down evacuation plans and tie up any loose ends before Thursday night.
President Obama traveled to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters earlier Wednesday. FEMA has deployed personnel to emergency operation centers in all four states and is preparing other supplies at bases in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Albany, Georgia.
The last Category 3 storm or higher to hit the U.S. was Hurricane Wilma in October 2005. The storm made landfall with 120 mile per hour winds in southwest Florida. It killed five people and left behind an estimated $21 billion in damage.
