“This is a life-threatening situation”, Scott said.
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The rain is supposed to let up later in the day, but forecasters are keeping an eye on Hurricane Hermine, saying it could bring more rain Sunday and Monday.
Charleston is making preparations for more flooding less than a year after historic rains caused closure of the SC city’s downtown. The city, roughly 35 miles from the coast, has not had a direct hit by hurricane in 30 years.
The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning covering an area that extends from Marineland, Florida, northward to the South Santee River in SC. He said his biggest worry is storm surge.
As of 2 p.m., sustained winds in the storm were 75 miles per hour with gusts up to 85 miles per hour.
CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) – Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened into a hurricane Thursday and steamed toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, where people put up shutters, nailed plywood across store windows and braced for the first hurricane to hit the state in over a decade.
Greaves says he lived in South Florida when Hurricane Andrew devastated the region in 1992.
Storm surge flooding in some areas along the Gulf Coast could reach up to 8 feet.
Several Florida schools announced closings on Thursday or Friday due to the storm.
Tropical Storm Hermine may grow to hurricane strength before the center of the storm makes landfall over the Florida Panhandle Thursday night or early Friday, forecasters warn.
Flooding was expected across a wide swath of the Big Bend area, which has a mostly marshy coastline and is made up of mostly rural communities and small towns.
Hermine is expected to dump between 5 and 10 inches of rain across large portions of North Florida and South Georgia through Friday, with isolated amounts of 20 inches possible. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Geneva, Henry and Houston counties in southeast Alabama, where gusty winds and heavy rain will be possible through Friday.
Emergency management officials in Franklin County have issued a mandatory evacuation notice for people living on St. George Island, Dog Island, Alligator Point and Bald Point. Residents in other low-lying areas prone to flooding area also being asked to evacuate.
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The NHC’s hurricane watch has been extended to much of Florida.
