There are long lines at Florida gas stations and empty shelves in the state’s grocery stores, as residents both stock up on supplies and prepare to flee before Hurricane Irma makes its expected landfall sometime Sunday. Irma could then strike a blow at parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.
In order to ease the evacuation process, the Florida Department of Transportation has ordered that highway construction projects along evacuation routes be suspended. DOT crews are in the process of lowering high mast interstate lights. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in several counties, the Florida Keys and Miami Beach.