MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Many Georgians have vacationed in Myrtle Beach and it's in the storm's potential path.
Channel 2's Nicole Carr arrived at Myrtle Beach and noticed boarded up buildings and streets that are mostly empty.
Anything that was open Tuesday was shut down Wednesday, including hospitals.
“This is the real deal. This is the one we need to pay attention to,” Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune said.
The Grand Strand Medical Center closed its doors Wednesday morning, moving potential debris, evacuating trauma patients, and discharging people like Derek Hampton's wife. She was induced on Monday, so their new addition would get here before Hurricane Florence.
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“I don't know what to say. It's one of those days where you're either going to stay or you're going to go. We're kind of juggling what we're going to do,” Hampton said.
“I told the wife let's not take no chances. Let's go on 'head and pack up for the schoolhouse,” evacuee Ernest Coleman said.
North Myrtle Beach High School is home to hundreds until they get the all-clear.
“So capacity about 670?” Nicole Carr asked.
“Yeah, we're expecting more than that,” Principal Trevor Strawderman said. “So we're planning for worst-case scenario, hoping for the best, but if we have to put people in here as tight as we have to -- to keep them from, you know, being outside -- then that's definitely what we're going to do.”
“This is the one that could really be catastrophic, and we just don't need to take chances. It's not worth the risk,” Bethune said.
“I hope it don't last very long,” Coleman said.
Severe Weather Team 2 is using the most advanced technology in the world to forecast the path of Hurricane Florence, for updates throughout the day and night on Channel 2 Action News.
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