Hurricane

This Irma-fearing sheriff is telling everyone to get out. Now.

Miami Beach is under mandatory evacuations. Tourist Bjorg Aasen and Arne Forsmo walk to catch a shuttle to a shelter as the city announced a mandatory evacuation ahead of the approaching Hurricane Irma on September 7, 2017 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Miami Beach is under mandatory evacuations. Tourist Bjorg Aasen and Arne Forsmo walk to catch a shuttle to a shelter as the city announced a mandatory evacuation ahead of the approaching Hurricane Irma on September 7, 2017 in Miami Beach, Florida. Getty Images

Get the heck out of Florida. That’s what one county sheriff is telling his residents.

“If we start seeing major populations evacuate in the east, traffic will only increase,” Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk told the Naples Daily News.

“The communities at the end of the line are going to have the most difficult time. We're at the end of the line.”

Though Collier County — located on Florida’s Gulf Coast, just west of Broward — has not been ordered to evacuate officially, the sheriff is asking that residents get out if they can.

“It is being highly encouraged but not mandatory,” a police dispatcher told the Miami Herald.

Dan Summers, Collier County’s Bureau of Emergency management director told NBC2 News that “the time to leave is now.”

Monique O. Madan: 305-376-2108, @MoniqueOMadan

This story was originally published September 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM with the headline "This Irma-fearing sheriff is telling everyone to get out. Now.."

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