‘Heed the warnings,’ officials warn Carolinas as massive storm nears

Hurricane Florence looks like it’s going to take a very slow path and dump tremendous rain across the southeast, in addition to bringing along coastal flooding and strong winds.

A hurricane warning – meaning hurricane conditions are expected within 36 hours – is in effect for a long stretch of the coast, from the Santee River in SC to Duck, N.C., which is part of the Outer Banks.

“Wave heights to 83 ft were measured early this morning under the [northeast] quadrant of Hurricane Florence”, tweeted the National Hurricane Center.

It says that the winds are likely to hit North and SC around Thursday morning, and Pennsylvania by the evening.

Historic and potentially catastrophic flooding is possible along with life-threating storm surges of up to 12 feet are possible along the coasts.

The US military is taking precautions as well. It could be cooler Sunday, if the storm remnants move into our area.

On Saturday, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm.

Its maximum sustained winds were at 105 miles per hour.

The NHC warned that hurricane force winds may extend 65 kilometers from the center and tropical-storm-force winds may reach 240 kilometers outward.

Manning adds hundreds of troops are ready to deploy at a moments notice, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency is setting up operations at Fort AP Hill, in Virginia.

Sunday night into Monday morning, wind speeds in Middle Georgia could increase to 20-40 miles per hour.

The storm had winds of 130 miles per hour (209 kilometres per hour) and was due to gain strength before it made landfall, which the US National Hurricane Centre said was likely to occur early Thursday, bringing heavy rain that could cause severe flooding throughout the region.

Storm surge is basically a wall of water that could swallow parts of the coast. Massive waves from the hurricane will make the rush of water even more unsafe and damaging, the National Hurricane Center warned.

Hurricane warnings have been issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center for portions of SC and North Carolina due to Hurricane Florence, according to the agency’s 5 p.m. update on September 11, 2018.

Cooper said local governments are typically responsible for issuing evacuation orders in North Carolina, and some localities have already issued orders to evacuate.

“Hurricane #Florence this morning as seen from @Space_Station”, Arnold tweeted on Monday.

The governors of North Carolina and Virginia have announced mandatory evacuations of hundreds of thousands more in their states.