After the governor’s flip-flop decision on Florence, may in the Lowcountry have a wait and see outlook.
On the Monday before the hurricane made landfall, Governor Henry McMaster issued a mandatory evacuation for some coastal South Carolina counties. By Tuesday, he reversed the decision, giving many residents the okay to stay home.
News 3 reached out to viewers on Facebook, and it appears as though many people are choosing to stay this time around. But of course, this time there has yet to be a mandatory evacuation call.
Many Lowcountry residents say their decisions are made not necessarily on the governor’s orders, but what they see in the track. And some believe the evacuation flip-flop on Florence might have been the right call after all.
“I feel sorry for the Governor. He’s kind of damned if he does damned if he doesn’t,” said one Lowcountry woman. “He makes the call to evacuate nothing happens, people get mad. He makes the call not to evacuate and people get mad.”
Meanwhile, safety officials are reminding residents that decisions need to be made based on the needs of yourself and your family.
“What’s right for you may not be right for your neighbor or vice versa,” said Capt. Lee Levesque with the Bluffton Fire Department. “Here’s the situation. What is right for you right now? Make that decision and run with it. Regardless of what it is, make the right one, and make sure its safe for everyone involved.”
Levesque added that his department, along with Hilton Head Fire, Beaufort Fire and the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, will all be at the ready if an evacuation is called for — or for whatever Michael may bring to the area.