Hurricane Matthew may not threaten the metro Atlanta area, but at least one area facility is helping with the evacuation of up to two million residents of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina who were told mid-week to leave the area before the large hurricane strikes.
Somerby Peachtree Executive Director LeeAnne Radcliff Ryan said Wednesday that 78 residents and 25 associates from its sister community, the Somerby Mount Pleasant facility near Charleston, S.C., had arrived earlier in the day.
Charleston is one of the coastal areas spanning from south Florida to the Carolinas forecast to be in the path of what became a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday morning and was downgraded to Category 3 status as of press time on Friday morning.
As of Friday morning, the hurricane continued to skirt the east Florida coast, with forecasters still uncertain if the storm will make landfall in Georgia or South Carolina.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott earlier in the week advised an estimated 1.5 million state residents to evacuate, stating, “This is serious. If you need to evacuate and you haven’t, evacuate. This storm will kill you. Time is running out. We don’t have that much time left.”
In Georgia, coastal areas were expected to experience a direct impact from Matthew, with Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday issuing an emergency declaration for 13 counties and ordering a mandatory evacuation for all areas east of Interstate 95.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday had lanes on Interstate 26 reversed to help with evacuation efforts.
