Web-posted Sept. 4, 1996 at 4 p.m.

 Area hotels taking reservations as Fran comes closer
 Bob Smith's Hurricane Tracker
 Coastal Georgians Prepare To Weather Hurricane Fran

The Associated Press

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina's governor today ordered evacuations of the state's entire coast as Hurricane Fran plowed toward the mainland with 115 mph wind.

``No area along our coastline is safe from what has become a huge, menacing storm,'' Gov. David Beasley said. He estimated a half-million people would be affected by his order.

With landfall still more than a day away, Georgia's Gov. Zell Miller declared a state of emergency along that state's coast.

The storm skirted the Bahamas today, largely sparing the islands from the worst of its fury as it took aim at the southeastern United States.

Landfall was expected sometime late Thursday. A hurricane watch, already in effect from north of Sebastian Inlet in central Florida to Little River Inlet, S.C., was extended northward to North Carolina's Oregon Inlet, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane warnings for part of that area were expected to be posted by midnight.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the hurricane's center was about 445 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C., wobbling toward the northwest at about 12 mph. The hurricane center said it was expected to continue following that heading through the night.

In Beaufort, workers were busy boarding up windows as storm clouds rolled on the horizon.

``I do believe this one is going to get us, that's the way it's heading,'' said John Gallop, dockmaster at a downtown marine.

``I'm not hanging around for it. My cat and my car - we're gone,'' said Jennifer Topcik, who planned to get out of Beaufort this afternoon.

Beasley put the state's entire National Guard on standby, and warned Fran could drive inland through the state like Hurricane Hugo did in 1989. His evacuation order generally covered parts of the state east of highway U.S. 17, which parallels the coast as little as a mile and as much as about 10 miles inland.

Schools already were closed today in Beaufort County, and a sign on one restaurant in Charleston read ``Scram Fran.''

The Marine Corps prepared for possible evacuation of 5,000 troops from its Parris Island training center near Beaufort, and canceled Friday's scheduled graduation for 600 recruits, said Lt. James Rich, a base spokesman.

The Navy ordered ships out to sea from the Mayport Naval Station at Jacksonville, Fla., and the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia.

In Georgia, the Chatham County Commission called for a voluntary evacuation for the county's 205,000 residents. Chatham is the northernmost county on the state's coast.

Farther south, in Brunswick, cars were backed up five deep at service stations on Tuesday as motorists filled their tanks in anticipation of evacuations.

At Cape Canaveral, Fla., this morning, space shuttle Atlantis began the slow trek from its launch pad back to the safety of its giant hangar, even though there was a good chance the hurricane would head farther north.

Atlantis was supposed to blast off Sept. 14 to retrieve astronaut Shannon Lucid from the Russian space station Mir, her home since March. No new launch date had been set, but it would be delayed at least two days, NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham said today.

Hurricane-force wind - of 74 mph or higher - extended up to 175 miles outward from the storm's center.

Officials cautioned that even if Fran skirts the Southeast coast, it still could pour heavy rain on soil already saturated by a week of wet weather in the region. This morning in Virginia, 5 inches of rain had caused flooding around Danville that washed out bridges and forced some evacuations.

Hotels in Augusta, Ga., 150 miles up the Savannah River from the coast, were busy Tuesday taking reservations.

``I think we'll be pretty busy if it does come through,'' said Jane Hamilton, manager of a La Quinta Inn on Interstate 20, which had booked 32 rooms for families fleeing the Hilton Head Island, S.C., area. ``We'll be solid, I think.''

IN GEORGIA, residents along the coast began a voluntary evacuation Wednesday and the governor declared a state of emergency in several counties.

Gov. Zell Miller declared a state of emergency in 11 southeast Georgia counties because of ``the threat of severe damage and destruction.'' Declaring a state of emergency makes the counties eligible for state funds for cleanup and repairs.

The counties named in Miller's declaration are: Brantley, Bryan, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh and Wayne.

The storm also posed enough of a threat that residents in Savannah and other coastal Georgia communities began evacuating voluntarily and shoring up buildings.

The Chatham County Commission issued the word for a voluntary evacuation at midday Wednesday for the county's 205,000 residents.

When a similar voluntary evacuation was conducted in Chatham County in July for Hurricane Bertha, some county officials later deemed it a false alarm that created panic and caused economic losses from business closings. Bertha passed without damaging the Georgia coast.

``Quite a few people left in Bertha, and I'm sure people will leave now. Those who are concerned about themselves will go,'' said John Felder of the Chatham County Emergency Management Agency. ``There's no problem with a voluntary evacuation.''

The last time a hurricane made its first landfall on the Georgia coast was in August 1940, when an unnamed Category 2 storm hit land near Savannah, according to Chuck Gregg, a hurricane planner with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Numerous hurricanes have battered the Georgia coast since then, but all made landfall first in Florida or South Carolina.

Many coastal Georgia residents began filling gas tanks, making reservations at inland hotels and clearing the grocery store shelves of bottled water, canned goods and batteries as early as Tuesday.

Cars were lined up five deep at the pumps in Brunswick late Tuesday afternoon. Drivers said they wanted to be prepared in case an evacuation was ordered.

Hotels in Augusta, 150 miles up the Savannah River from the coast, were jammed with phone calls from people making reservations for the next few days. Hotels in Waycross and Jesup, east of Savannah, also were filling up.

The American Red Cross was identifying shelters and asking volunteers to be available as the hurricane drew closer, said Bill Tomlinson, director of emergency services for the Augusta chapter.

Officials worried that even if Fran skirts the coast, rains that soaked the earth and trees for the past week have left coastal Georgia vulnerable to flooding and serious tree damage.

``Trees are heavy with water, and the ground is soaked from all the rain we've been having,'' said Michael Tennent, superintendent of Fort Frederica National Monument.

Glynn County Emergency Management Agency head Ed Abel said the county is almost certain to catch some rains from Fran's feeder bands, and the earth won't take any more. That means some flooding is almost certain from the hurricane even if it doesn't make landfall nearby, Abel said.

The Georgia Department of Transportation moved equipment inland from its Savannah and Brunswick maintenance headquarters, and workers on bridge projects were moving barges to less-exposed areas, said Craig Brack of the DOT's Jesup office.

Cumberland Island National Seashore announced the island would be closed to visitors Wednesday and Thursday.