Hurricane Irma: Evacuees Land In North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, NC -- This weekend residents of North Carolina and South Carolina may see more of our southern neighbors as they evacuate from Hurricane Irma to avoid the brunt of the storm.

Hurricane Irma is expected to make landfall in Florida Sunday morning, possibly on its western coast. Authorities have ordered mandatory evacuations for parts of Florida like the Keys, parts of Miami-Dade County and the Tampa Bay area, as well as coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina.

With minimal impact expected from the storm, North Carolina appears to be a destination for some evacuees, or at least a path north through Interstate 95. In the Charlotte area, for example, a shelter for out-of-state hurricane evacuees opened at 5 p.m. at the old J.M. Alexander Middle School at 12201 Hambright Road in Huntersville.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation urged motorists to check real-time road conditions on their website. You can access that website here.

In anticipation of heightened traffic spurred by evacuations, NCDOT said it was suspended work projects and warned, however, that to accommodate the traffic flow of evacuees, it would be towing any unattended cars left on the shoulders of major interstates.

• SEE ALSO: How To Find Gas In North Carolina

Area residents took to social media Saturday morning, reporting heavy traffic on area highways and gas stations running out of gas. “Traffic on I-77 from Rock Hill to Charlotte was unusually heavy this morning. Must be people evacuating from #Irma,” Matt Jacobs tweeted Sept. 9.

Charlotte Motor Speedway opened its Rock City Campground Sept. 8 for evacuees heading inland from the coast of the Carolinas or from Florida. Workers at the speedway began removing things that could blow around in the storm, WSOC reported.

“We are happy to open our doors to help those needing a place to seek shelter during this difficult time," said Greg Walter, the executive vice president of Charlotte Motor Speedway. "We look forward to show them the hospitality for which we're known and they deserve. We are fortunate to have camping available to accommodate both hurricane evacuees and the drag racing fans who will join us next week."

On Friday, one evacuee who had been on the road from Florida for 16 hours stopped by a Charlotte Mecklenburg Library branch with his 6 year-old daughter, hoping for a diversion.

“Today a dad with his 6-year-old daughter came into one of our libraries after 16 hours in the car evacuating from Florida due to #HurricaneIrma,” the library system said on social media. “He was looking for a place to rest and find activities for his daughter. We are so glad he thought of the Library, and we hope that other visitors to our community will do the same. Libraries are safe, free and here to help!”

• SEE ALSO: Hurricane Watch In Effect For S.C. Coast

As of Saturday morning, Irma was located about 225 miles south of Miami, moving west-northwest at 12 mph. The hurricane has torn through Caribbean, leaving at least 20 people dead in its wake and packing maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.

Patch Editor Emily Leayman contributed to this article.

Pictured in this image, traffic backs in the north-bound lanes of Interstate 75 near the Georgia-Florida state line as people flee Hurricane Irma Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, in Jennings, Fla.. (John Bazemore/Associated Press)

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