Hurricane Dorian slowly makes its way to five states

More than 2 million people in five Southeastern states continued to clear out Tuesday as a weakened but still potent Hurricane Dorian inched toward the coast after a weeklong tease.

While the Category 2 monster is expected to remain off shore, forecasters said Dorian, now creeping along at 7 mph after stalling over the Bahamas, will still bring tropical-force winds and cause dangerous storm surges of up to seven feet along the mainland.

Conditions began deteriorating along the Florida coast late Tuesday and were expected to worsen overnight as the storm moved within 100 miles of Fort Pierce.

“Tropical storm-force winds have been observed from Jacksonville to near Miami as the outer bands of Dorian track over Florida,” AccuWeather said.

States of emergency remained in effect along coastal zones in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.

“Hurricane Dorian is a serious storm and current predictions indicate it may affect parts of Virginia,” that state’s governor, Ralph Northam. “I encourage Virginians to take all necessary precautions to make sure they are prepared.”

The approaching storm shut down parts of Disney World in Orlando, grounded flights at seven airports and forced airlines to cancel more than 1,300 flights in and out of Florida.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued mandatory evacuation orders in 12 counties and called for voluntary evacuations in five others.

The National Hurricane Center said Dorian could even cause “a tornado or two … near the immediate east coast of Florida.”

In Georgia, state police turned Interstate 16 into a one-way highway to facilitate the evacuation of more than 540,000 residents along the coast.

In South Carolina, about 244,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas, according to state transportation officials — or about one-third of the population in the affected areas.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Dorian could come within five miles of Charleston, and wallop eight counties with high winds and storm surges.

“The entire coast of South Carolina is either under a hurricane watch or a hurricane warning,” McMaster said Tuesday.

“This is a very serious storm, and a western shift of just a few miles could bring enormous damage to our state.

“We want to prepare for the worst, but we pray for the best,” he added.

North Carolina’s Outer Banks could also be in Dorian’s path, with the hurricane anticipated to be a still-dangerous Category 1 by the time it reaches there.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged caution, particularly in the vulnerable Outer Banks, as he noted Dorian’s devastating and fatal impact on the Bahamas.

“Please listen to and follow all evacuation orders,” Cooper said Tuesday.

“We have seen the life-and-death effects of this storm in the Bahamas, and we urge everyone on the [Outer Banks] islands to leave.”

Dorian is the second-most-powerful Atlantic storm in modern recorded history, behind only Hurricane Allen in 1980.

Meanwhile, even as Dorian weakened as it approached the US mainland, other storms are forming in the Atlantic, including Tropical Storm Fernand, which sat in the Gulf of Mexico close to the Texas coastline Tuesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently raised its forecast for the likelihood of an above-normal hurricane season, including two to four major hurricanes — meaning winds above 110 mph — through November.

With Post wires

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