Be prepared.

Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order Saturday declaring a state of emergency.

McMaster, along with the S.C. Emergency Management Division, has urged South Carolinians to prepare for the possibility of Hurricane Florence impacting the state. The executive order enables all state agencies to coordinate resources in preparation for Hurricane Florence.

“This storm is too powerful and its path is too uncertain to take any chances,” McMaster said. “We are mobilizing the state’s resources to make sure we are prepared, and the people of South Carolina must not hesitate to prepare for the possibility of a hurricane impacting our coast.”

Members of the state’s Emergency Response Team (SERT) will begin reviewing plans and notifying response staff should they be needed. Governor McMaster and SCEMD Director Kim Stenson will continue to hold conference calls with county emergency managers, SERT agencies and local National Weather Service offices. The agencies on these coordination calls share information and discuss emergency plans in advance of any response to the storm.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said at a Sunday news conference that the state’s residents need to “pretend, assume, presume that a major hurricane is going to hit right smack dab in the middle of South Carolina and is going to go way inshore.”

He said South Carolinians should count on “a lot of wind and a lot of rain” from Hurricane Florence this week.
The National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Florence could make landfall by Friday in the Southeast U.S. and that the people in South Carolina, and in the mid-Atlantic states, need to begin preparations for the storm.

Charleston city officials are offering sandbags for residents to fill. Myrtle Beach residents were urged to secure their homes, but no plan for evacuation orders has been issued.