As Florence bears down on US coast, 1 million told to flee
South Carolina on Monday, September 10, ordered an estimated 1 million people to evacuate its coast as the state and neighboring North Carolina brace for a hit from Hurricane Florence, the most powerful storm to take aim at the US mainland this year.
The storm had winds of 130 miles per hour (209 kph) and was due to gain strength before making landfall, which the US National Hurricane Center said was likely to occur early Thursday (September 13) in the Carolinas, bringing heavy rain that could cause severe flooding through the region.
Satellite imagery captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed rows of clouds swirling offshore as the hurricane continued on its path.
In North Carolina, officials already had ordered some 250,000 residents and visitors to begin evacuating the Outer Banks barrier islands.
In Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, in the storm's path, residents could be seen boarding up homes and securing possessions.
The United States was hit with a series of high-powered hurricanes last year, including Hurricane Maria, which killed some 3,000 people in Puerto Rico, and Hurricane Harvey, which killed about 68 people and caused an estimated $1.25 billion in damage with catastrophic flooding in Houston.
By noon EDT (1600 GMT) on Monday, Florence was about 1,170 miles (1,880 km)east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and was a Category 4, the second-strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the NHC said.
US President Donald Trump, whose administration faced severe criticism for a slow response in Puerto Rico to Hurricane Maria, canceled a political rally planned for Friday in Jackson, Mississippi, over safety concerns related to Florence, his campaign said.
Florence could bring a life-threatening coastal storm surge, and inland flooding as far north as Virginia, the NHC said.
(Source: Reuters)
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