Another Florence Question.....driving

[Princess Merida]

We are on the Virginia/North Carolina border about 20 miles from the coast and are possibly evacuating. I'm waiting for tonight's updated track because my sister is pregnant and scheduled to be induced Wednesday which I don't want to miss, but a direct hit from a 4 would be catastrophic. I made a reservation with my passholder discount for Wednesday through Sunday. My question..... has anyone headed down before a storm like this before? If so how long may it add to my trip? Any recommendations on when I should head out? Thanks for any advice!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Fuel up and stock up with supplies. I had a friend just report that even in Georgia that gas lines are long and emergency supplies are gone. No bread, water, batteries. He lives in NC and was driving home from Florida and thought they would stop and get supplies becuase he heard stuff was sold out at home in NC but had not luck getting anything in GA.

 

[JimMIA]

Don't do it.

 

[kydisneyfans]

You're already too late.

 

[writerguyfl]

My question..... has anyone headed down before a storm like this before? If so how long may it add to my trip? Any recommendations on when I should head out? Thanks for any advice!

Every situation is going to be different. It's almost impossible to tell how much extra time will be added to any trip. But, it's certainly going to be much longer than you expect.

Last year, I evacuated from Fort Lauderdale for Hurricane Irma. On the first day, I made it to the Tallahassee area. It's about 460 miles and normally takes between 7 and 8 hours. That day, it took just shy of 15 hours (if I'm remembering correctly).

Be safe.

 

[Princess Merida]

Sounds like I need to get plane tix and fly out tomorrow night or stay home. Thanks for the replies!

 

[richmo]

Sounds like I need to get plane tix and fly out tomorrow night or stay home. Thanks for the replies!

You could look, but that might be harder than driving.

If you can get out fairly early on Wednesday, you might be able to get out okay. I suspect the worst of the traffic will be Thursday. If you do, make sure you have supplies, maps, good navigation apps on your phone (Waze or the like), phone chargers and all that fun stuff. If the navigation routes look horrible about when you want to leave, then don't.

 

[NotUrsula]

Your sister is in an iffy situation. Normally in an evacuation situation, elective procedures (including non-emergency inductions) will be cancelled, because the hospitals need to minimize the patient load should they have to go to generator power. The thing is, it's a hurricane, and through some freak of nature, low-pressure weather systems often cause women to go into labor. If she is in an evac zone, she needs to get out NOW and move to wherever her doctor suggests, and bring her medical records along. Delivering in the middle of a major storm is not a good thing for anyone concerned, so best wishes to her.

SC will go to contraflow at noon, with all major highways leading away from the coast westbound-only. That will help, but IME, if you want to get out without getting stuck, it's best to leave in the middle of the night. As I'm sure you know, the state's advice is to evacuate south, so traffic southbound will be the worst. If you are headed for WDW, I'd head west to Atlanta and south on I-75 instead of I-95 (I know, it's way out of the way, but moving beats not moving.)

 

[JimMIA]

SC will go to contraflow at noon, with all major highways leading away from the coast westbound-only.

That's Noon TODAY (Tuesday), right?

 

[NotUrsula]

That's Noon TODAY (Tuesday), right?

Yes.

 

[richmo]

A quick look at traffic about 11 Am on Tuesday shows the roads fairly quiet in the southeast. Only major exceptions I see are I-26 E closed from Columbia to Charleston and US 501 East mostly closed heading towards Myrtle Beach. I assume that's all to set up the contraflow mentioned above...

If you are headed out, obviously today is your best bet, followed by tomorrow. Thursday? Personally I don't think I'd wait that long.

 

[Princess Merida]

I found decent flights out of Baltimore tomorrow. I’m driving up in the morning and flying out to DW tomorrow. I have a hotel until Monday and hope we can return home to Hampton Roads but if not I have family in Baltimore. It’s so difficult to plan with Mother Nature in charge, but she’s the boss so we are out of here. Good luck and be safe to anyone in Florence’s path reading this.