Forecasters are clear: Hurricane Florence is rapidly getting stronger, predictions are dire and the three states in its path are bracing for the worst.
Forecasters are clear: Hurricane Florence is rapidly getting stronger, predictions are dire and the three states in its path are bracing for the worst.
The storm will likely hit the East Coast as a powerful Category 4 or possibly Category 5 hurricane, and its impact is expected to be life-threatening.
“We do know that we’re in the bulls-eye,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. “North Carolina is taking Hurricane Florence seriously and you should too. Get ready now.”
Residents along the coast in North Carolina, but also South Carolina and Virginia have already been issued mandatory evacuation orders.
The most sweeping orders come from South Carolina, where the entire coastline was given until Noon on Tuesday to leave – more than one million people on the move.
“It’s going to be inconvenient but we don’t want to risk one South Carolina life in this hurricane,” said Gov. Henry McMaster.
In Virginia Beach, Virginia, local stores are already selling out of basic supplies.
For those not planning to evacuate, some of the most important items to have on hand include:
Meteorologist Jon Cash tells CBN News that wherever Florence comes ashore, that area will likely be devastated, facing days of torrential rain and damaging winds.
“All of our computer models that we really like, that we say these are the accurate ones, are all lining up and saying this thing’s going to explode, this thing’s going to move West and then eventually North West,” Cash said.
“The key really is this thing is going to be a huge storm when it threatens the coast and this is just something that doesn’t happen every day when you see things lining up as they are,” he continued.
Besides the power of this storm, the other major concern is its speed.
“After it comes inland, it’s not going to move hardly at all for three days… When we’re talking 30-40 inches of rain, if that occurs over the mountains of NC or VA then you are looking at a catastrophic flooding event,” Cash told CBN News.
Monday night President Trump tweeted about the storm, asking those along the coast to be careful and promising the support of the federal government.
Meanwhile, several other hurricanes are traveling behind Florence, much further out in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s too soon to tell where they’re heading.
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