By , Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. | State troopers were turning an interstate highway into a one-way escape route out of Savannah on Thursday as roughly 500,000 people were ordered to flee the Georgia coast ahead of dangerous Hurricane Matthew.
Gov. Nathan Deal ordered mandatory evacuations for all coastal residents east of Interstate 95 as the National Hurricane Center placed all 100 miles of coastal Georgia under a hurricane warning.
"Hurricane Matthew is a storm not to be messed with," Savannah Mayor Eddie DeLoach said Thursday morning, urging residents to leave town. "If you decide to ride it out, do not expect us to be there to help you."
Many in Georgia's oldest city, which hasn't suffered a direct hit from a major hurricane since 1898, moved swiftly to comply.
About 40 people without cars carried small suitcases, backpacks and diaper bags outside the Savannah Civic Center, where a long line of school buses idled in the parking lot prepared to take them to shelter inland.
"I'd rather be gone," said Babett Biggins, 50, who was waiting for a bus with her two grown daughters, four grandchildren and other family members. She said she's a lifetime Savannah resident, but a hurricane novice: "I've never been in any of them and I don't want to experience one."
Matthew marks the first time a hurricane evacuation has been ordered for coastal Georgia since 1999, when the Savannah area had a near-miss with Hurricane Floyd.
As they did 17 years ago, the Georgia State Patrol and Department of Transportation worked Thursday to turn Interstate 16 into a one-way evacuation route away from the coast. DOT spokeswoman Jill Nagel said state troopers would route traffic westbound across all lanes of the interstate along a 125-mile stretch from Savannah to Dublin.
Traffic ran smoothly on I-16 without any changes Thursday morning, Nagel said, but she noted that fleeing motorists were expected not just from Georgia, but neighboring states as well.
"We've got evacuations from Florida and South Carolina, so we're anticipating that influx to increase," Nagel said.
The National Hurricane Center said coastal Georgia could begin seeing sustained winds of up to 65 mph by Friday morning. Forecasts called for a storm surge of 7 to 11 feet along coastal waters and 6 to 10 inches of rain. Matthew was forecast to pass dangerously close to the Georgia coastline Saturday morning.
On St. Simons Island about 70 miles south of Savannah, Jennifer Banker and her husband packed up valuables from their beachfront home and prepared to leave. She said the prospect of several feet of storm surge swamping their house was "very scary."
"Yeah, we're absolutely concerned about what we're going to come back to," Banker said. "We have a house that sits right here on the water and we kind of said goodbye to it."
Nearly 20 miles inland, John Collins was boarding up the coffee shop he owns with his wife in downtown Savannah and trying to decide whether to ride out the storm in their 1895 home.
Collins said he wanted to wait another day to make a last-minute call on evacuating, hoping hurricane forecasts would show more certainty as to whether Matthew would come ashore or head to sea.
"This one is the most iffy storm I've ever seen in my life," Collins said.
Meanwhile, Collins wasn't sure if he would need plywood cut for the windows on his home as well. While his house has storm shutters, he said he's never tried using them.
"I'm hoping the shutters aren't just for looking pretty," Collins said.