States Prepare for ‘Storm of a Lifetime’ as Hurricane Florence Looms

After Florence makes landfall, that ridge, now over Washington and NY, will move east – but be replaced by another one forming over the Great Lakes that will likely keep the storm stuck, McNoldy said. Its maximum sustained winds are expected to top 145 miles per hour before losing some steam near the coast. Maximum gusts were measured at 130 miles per hour.

It’s this putrid horror that North Carolina is faced with, as Hurricane Florence barrels its way to the US coast.

Data collected during the flight allows the NOAA to keep a watchful eye on the most powerful storm to date in the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, to research its speed, intensity and structure.

Florence could strengthen some over open water and then weaken as it nears land, but the difference won’t make it any less unsafe, forecaster Stacy Stewart wrote in a National Hurricane Center discussion. “I encourage Georgians to be prepared for the inland effects of the storm as well as the ensuing storm surge in coastal areas”. “The rainfall has been and continues to be a very substantial threat over the entire area”. More to come on this part of the forecast.

Another four million people are under a tropical storm watch.

“Heed the warnings”, Mr Byard said.

The hurricane centre said Florence will approach the coast Friday and linger for a while before rolling ashore.

“This is a horrific nightmare storm from a meteorological perspective”, University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam joined the chorus of warnings, and issued an evacuation order for about a quarter million residents in flood-prone coastal areas, beginning Tuesday morning.

Oddly, the closer Hurricane Florence gets to land the murkier its future gets.

“The water could overtake some of these barrier islands and keep on going. Now it might be time for the exam”, he said. “All you have to do is look up at your ceiling, and think about 12 feet (of water)”. But authorities warned Florence has an enormous wind field that has been growing larger, raising the risk of the ocean surging on to land and making Florence extremely unsafe.

“Today is the time to get your preparedness actions complete”, he said.

The very center of that bullseye may be Camp Lejeune, the sprawling Marine Corps training base, where authorities were opening emergency operation centers and staging equipment.

US President Donald Trump has authorised emergency measures to free up federal funds to help those responding to the storm.

A new high-definition video and photos taken from the International Space Station show the size of scope of Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm heading toward landfall in the Southeast U.S. later this week.

Hurricane preparations should be rushed to completion as soon as possible.

A long stretch of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard remained vulnerable to hurricane and tropical storm conditions, from Georgia north through the Carolinas into Virginia. Overflowing or breached lagoons can render drinking-water supplies unsafe, cause phosphorus blooms, poison animals and agricultural land, and spread farm-related pollutants and toxins, like pesticides, fuel residue, and chemical additives.