So residents need to continue to keep an eye on the hurricane and remain prepared, emergency officials say.
William Winn, Beaufort County Emergency Management director, said the state has asked the department to monitor the storm until it makes landfall.
"When you get something that big, that dangerous, we're staying ready," Winn said. "Right now, we're not seeing any potential threat. We're telling people to basically go on with their weekend, (but) stay alert."
The 11 p.m. Thursday advisory from the National Hurricane Center projected Frances, which had winds near 125 mph, would hit the east coast of Florida as early as Friday. The storm was projected to track across the state, into the Gulf of Mexico, then up to the Florida Panhandle before moving into Alabama.
Even as the storm spun toward Florida, traffic picked up on Interstate 95 into South Carolina.
At midday, close to 2,800 vehicles per hour -- about twice the normal volume -- were crossing the Georgia border into South Carolina on I-95, the main north-south route between New York and Miami, said John Boettcher, South Carolina's hurricane program manager.
Most of the vehicles appeared to be passing through the state, although some were turning west toward Columbia, he said.
In Walterboro, about 50 miles west of Charleston, a lot of Floridians leaving the projected path of the storm already had reservations at the Holiday Inn Express, said April Davis, a clerk at the motel.
Walterboro has 14 motels with about 2,000 rooms along the interstate, said David Smalls, president of the Walterboro-Colleton Chamber of Commerce. He expected them to fill up later Thursday and today.
Beaufort County residents should see some higher tides and larger waves along the beaches because of the storm.
"We anticipate that surf conditions will get heavier as the storm gets closer to shore," said Ralph Wagner, director of Shore Beach Services, the company the Town of Hilton Head Island pays to provide lifeguards and clean the beach. "How heavy? I don't know."
The service posted caution flags along the beach around high tide Thursday to warn people of the heavy surf conditions.
National Weather Service forecasters Thursday posted high-surf and rip-current advisories from Florida to Long Island, N.Y. Computer models of hurricane-generated waves suggest the storm will produce coastal waves of 6 to 9 feet as far north as New England by Saturday and through Labor Day. The models were created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
State officials warned people to remain vigilant about preparations for the storm, including reviewing evacuation plans. The state will continue to remain ready for it until "it has no potential threat to hit the state of South Carolina," said John Legare, a spokesman for the Emergency Management Division.
Many area residents already have gotten supplies in case the storm does head toward the Lowcountry.
Lori Holland, a manager at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse in greater Bluffton, said the store sold out of generators and many people had come in this week to buy batteries, flashlights and plastic coverings, "things that people normally wouldn't buy."
Red Cross officials also are prepared in case the storm affects the Lowcountry. But at the same time, the agency is getting volunteers ready to head to Florida after the storm hits, said Larry Rockwell, executive director of the Palmetto Chapter of the American Red Cross.
"We're not moving anybody yet," Rockwell said, "because we're not going to put anybody in harm's way."
He said the national organization expects the recovery effort for Frances to cost more than the $81 million spent on Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992 and is considered the costliest natural disaster recovery effort in Red Cross history.
South Carolina officials monitored Frances even as estimates of the damage from Sunday's Tropical Storm Gaston increased to at least $8.6 million.
Figures from the state Emergency Management Division showed at least $7.6 million in damage to buildings and infrastructure, including the cost of debris cleanup, in Charleston County. There was almost an additional $1 million in flood damage in Berkeley County.