People along the US east coast entered better-safe-than-sorry mode Tuesday, flocking to hardware stores, grocery aisles and gas stations as Hurricane Matthew marched toward Florida, threatening to become the first hurricane to hit the state’s Atlantic coast in over a decade. South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said she planned to issue an evacuation order Wednesday so that 1 million people can safely leave the coast. In South Florida, lines at grocery stores were heavier than usual and some essentials were in short supply. The last storm to hit the Atlantic side of Florida was Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005 on its way to devastating the Gulf coast. It would be the first major evacuation since Hurricane Floyd in 1999, when the governor at the time didn’t reverse the lanes and Interstate 26 became a parking lot.

Source: The Guardian October 04, 2016 21:49 UTC