Georgia governor declares state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence’s potentially devastating winds are generating enormous waves as high as 83 feet as it continues to make its way toward the East Coast and insurers predict it will become the costliest such storm to ever hit the continental U.S.

Swells generated by Florence are already affecting Bermuda and portions of the US East Coast.

The National Hurricane Center’s latest model for Hurricane Florence shows a similar track that has been reported throughout Wednesday.

The NHC is warning it will bring the risk of “life-threatening storm surge and rainfall” and “catastrophic flash flooding and significant river flooding” to parts of the mid-Atlantic states.

As of 8 a.m. ET, Florence was 530 miles southeast of Cape Fear, N.C., moving west-northwest at 17 mph, the National Hurricane Center says. The hurricane was moving northwest in the Atlantic at 16 miles per hour and was packing sustained winds of 115 miles per hour.

The wide storm weakened to a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday and forecasters expect it to weaken further as it nears the shore. Hurricane Maria, noted for its high winds, killed 2,975 people and cost more than $60 billion in damage to Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands a year ago, according to cost estimates from Munich Re, an worldwide reinsurance company.

All three states ordered mass evacuations along the coast but getting out of harm’s way has proved difficult since airlines were cancelling flights and motorists had a hard time finding fuel.

– Overnight the storm shifted south.

Hurricane conditions will likely hit on Friday, but tropical storm conditions will arrive on Thursday, according to the hurricane center.

– There’s a chance of tornadoes starting Thursday as the storm meanders near or over the Carolinas.

In Charleston, South Carolina, streets were quiet with schools and many offices and businesses closed.

Florence, a category 4 hurricane, is now moving in a west-northwesterly direction at 17mph.

Predictions now have the storm stalling and making a slight southward turn after it makes landfall.

Numerous beach communities expected to be impacted by Hurricane Florence have livestreams to monitor the surf conditions. His home, built 1 mile inland in 2016, is raised 25 feet off the ground and is built to withstand 140-mph winds, he said.

On a conference call with media, David Fountain, the Duke Energy North Carolina President, said they were using predictive modeling in historical data to make their estimates. During that storm, only 14 lagoons out of several thousand flooded, Curliss said. “You’re going to be displaced from your home in coastal areas”. And once the impacts of this storm start to come in, it’s going to be very hard for first responders to get to you. “Don’t plan to leave once the winds and rains start”. “And my job is closed”.

“A lot of our storefronts are boarded up”, said Lynn Davis, town manager for Belhaven which sits at sea level in northeastern North Carolina.

Scientists have filmed an astonishing video of the interior of Hurricane Florence, as the storm bears down on North and SC. Emergency officials in New Hanover County, where Wilmington is located, said a 76-person urban search and rescue team will mobilize in the county on Thursday in case it needed.

Speaking at a news conference, the official said the hurricane was expected to spread out into the Central Appalachian mountains, the Tennessee Valley, and southeastern parts of the USA after Saturday.

“We got a long trip”, Phillip Payne told Begnaud as he packed up his truck for the drive to Charlotte Tuesday with his fiance and two dogs. Pull together their important documents. “Everyone was sold out”, she said.