Hurricane Florence photographed with super wide lens from space

The hurricane warning was issued for issued from South Santee River, South Carolina, to Duck, North Carolina, and the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds.

A steady stream of vehicles full of people and belongings flowed inland as local governor Roy Cooper urged locals to flee the “monster” storm – and nuclear power plants prepare to shut down. It’s big and it’s vicious.

People weren’t the only ones evacuating to get out of the path of Hurricane Florence.

Every few hours, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) releases updated information regarding the storm’s location and projected path by using the NHC’s “forecast cone”.

Hurricane Florence is expected to pose the greatest challenge with 380 to 635 millimetres of rain forecast and up to 1.14 metres of rain in isolated spots.

Panovich: Well, it’s pretty interesting. The other thing this will put us at increased threat for is for possible tornadoes.

The soaked ground and fierce winds could bring down trees and power lines and knock out electricity for weeks.

Marshall: When should we now expect landfall along the coast?

Perhaps the worst-case scenario for flight schedules is if Florence stalls after moving on shore while blocking the busy flight routes along the Atlantic coast.

Its center will move between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday and approach the coast of SC or North Carolina on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.

In Southeastern N.C., ask anyone who has been a resident through a major storm and they’ll tell you some variation of the same motto – “If Jim Cantore comes to town, that’s when I know to leave”.

Boeing Co suspended work on Tuesday at the SC plant where it assembles 787 widebody jetliners, and a Volvo automobile plant in South Carolina’s evacuation zone was also closed, company officials said.

The hurricane is expected to dump heavy rain throughout the region and FEMA officials said it’s not just a coastal problem.

There is increased fear that Florence “will slow considerably or stall, leading to a prolonged and exceptionally heavy and risky rainfall event Friday-Sunday”, the NHC said Tuesday.

“We are experienced in handling this type of weather and its consequences and do not foresee significant impacts to the university”, they wrote.

Florence could be the strongest hurricane to hit the Carolinas since Hugo in 1989.

Florence quickly intensified from a Category 1 Hurricane the morning of September 10, 2018 to a Category 4 Hurricane by midafternoon.

The vessels would get underway from Naval Station Norfolk and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek to avoid potential damage from winds and tidal surges, said Colonel Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman.

He said: “What it has from tomorrow right on into Saturday paralleling the coast with weak steering currents – it sits off the coast and basically sits and spins and becomes a storm surge machine”. So, the winds will be winding down much quicker near the coast before those winds get up here.

“Any amount of money, whatever it takes, we’re going to do it”, Trump said Tuesday as he talked about relief efforts with federal disaster officials.