After Betsy stalled and assumed a southwesterly course towards southern Florida, precautionary measures ceased in the Carolinas but were initiated in Florida and The Bahamas. Mackey Airlines assisted in the evacuation of 227 residents of West End Island to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, Florida, over the course of three flights. Three additional Douglas DC-6 airliners from Mackey Airlines evacuated 240 people, primarily American tourists, from Nassau to Miami. Various commercial flights between the archipelago and Florida were cancelled due to the impending storm. In Florida, various relief agencies prepared 9,000 hot dogs, 8,000 hamburgers, and 6,000 servings of chicken, to be donated to local hospitals and charitable organizations. The United States Weather Bureau urged for the reopening of grocery stores and lumberyards which had been closed for Labor Day in order to increase availability of hurricane preparedness materials to potentially affected populations. In downtown Miami, a traffic coordination plan for the evacuation of vehicles and aquatic craft through the Brickell Avenue Bridge was set in place. Homestead Air Reserve Base went into Phase 2 of its hurricane preparedness plan, in which aircraft stationed at the base were serviced for potential evacuation to bases in Michigan and Indiana. Upon Betsy's recurvature southwestward toward the peninsula on September 7, the Weather Bureau strongly advised evacuation procedures between Fort Lauderdale and Key Largo. Evacuation was strongly advised in the Florida Keys, where rising water as a result of the storm could potentially flood over portions of U.S. Route 1 – the only primary access route from the Keys to the mainland. Overall, an estimated 50,000 residents were within coastal regions where evacuations were advised. The U.S. Navy abandoned its housing project on Big Pine Key to avoid the hurricane, while sheriff deputies in Marathon, Tavernier, and Islamorada strongly advised evacuation in those respective cities. Various offices, businesses, and schools were closed in advance of the hurricane. Airlines cancelled service to Fort Lauderdale and Miami. In the latter, city crews dismantled traffic lights along Biscayne Boulevard; such procedure was influenced by the damage wrought by Hurricane Cleo a year prior.