North Carolina coast feels Florence's first blast of wind, rain
- by Michele Ross
- in Sci-tech
- — Sep 16, 2018
Philippines starts massive evacuations as huge typhoon nears Philippine authorities began evacuating thousands of people on Thursday from the path of the most powerful typhoon this year, closing schools, readying bulldozers for landslides and placing rescuers and troops on full alert in the country's north.
However, a Cat 2 storm's wind speed is "extremely unsafe", according to the National Hurricane Center, capable of ripping trees from the ground, wreaking major roof damage on homes and causing power outages that may last weeks and affect three million households.
North Carolina will see up to eight months of rain in a two- to three-day period, National Weather Service forecaster Brandon Locklear said in a video briefing.
The centre urges people within the affected areas to take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other risky conditions.
Winds and waves began battering the Carolinas on Thursday as officials warned that Hurricane Florence - while weakening slightly - remains a "very unsafe storm" capable of wreaking havoc along a wide swathe of the US East Coast. "I'm going to Charlotte".
The latest rainfall projections warn of 20-40 inches of rain from coastal North Carolina into northeastern SC - amounts that could bring "catastrophic flash flooding", the hurricane center said.
And if Florence weren't enough, other storms out there are threatening people.
But the mayor says she knows many people are ignoring evacuation orders. As Florence moved inland, it was expected to pass near-enough to bring winds of up to 40 miles per hour to Charlotte, the second-busiest hub for American Airlines.
In addition to the coastal flood warning, a tropical storm warning is in effect for Hampton Roads from Poquoson to the Virginia-North Carolina border because of Hurricane Florence.
THE life-threatening hurricane, Florence, is expected to hover the Carolinas in the United States with torrential rains, high winds and massive coastal erosion.
Even if Florence were downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, it would still cause extensive damage, Abrams says.
The storm's centre was about 145 miles (235 km) east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as of Thursday night.
The National Guard is on standby in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to deal with emergencies as they arise.
Click on the videos below for a live look at the storm's impact in North and SC. Workers are being brought in from the Midwest and Florida to help in the storm's aftermath, it said. The storm is expected to turn west and then north moving through the Carolinas and the Ohio Valley by Monday, the NHC said early on Saturday.
"The shelters are not taking dogs", Ramirez said.
Steering currents - around clear-weather high-pressure systems and stormy low-pressure systems - redirect hurricanes, with the clear-weather systems acting as walls that storms have to go around.
Florence was moving west-southwest at about 5 miles per hour (7 km/h), with its centre located over eastern SC.
