Brian Kemp orders Georgia coast mandatory evacuation as Dorian approaches

MIAMI — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the state’s Atlantic coast starting at midday Monday.

Kemp tweeted late Sunday that his executive order covers all those located east of the Interstate 95 corridor on Georgia’s Atlantic seaboard. It begins at noon EDT Monday as powerful Hurricane Dorian creeps ever closer to the U.S. Southeast.

Dorian marks the third time since 2016 that hurricane evacuations have been ordered for all of coastal Georgia. Roughly 540,000 people live on the state’s 100-mile (160-kilometer) coast. Areas to be evacuated include parts of Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Liberty, and McIntosh counties.

Kemp added in his tweet that lanes will be reversed on major Interstate 16 starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday to better lead motorists away from the coast.

Before the evacuations ahead of Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Irma in 2017, coastal residents had not been ordered to flee a storm since Hurricane Floyd in 1999. That hurricane ended up missing the state before making landfall in North Carolina.