Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station on Monday. Millions of Americans are preparing for what could be one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit in decades. Photo / AP
Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station on Monday. Millions of Americans are preparing for what could be one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit in decades. Photo / AP
Motorists streamed inland on highways converted to one-way routes yesterday as more than 1 million people in three states were ordered to get out of the way of Hurricane Florence, a hair-raising storm taking dead aim at the Carolinas with 210 kmh winds and potentially ruinous rains.
Florence was expected to blow ashore late Thursday or early Friday, then slow down and wring itself out for days, unloading 30cm to to 76cm of rain that could cause flooding well inland and wreak environmental havoc by washing over industrial waste sites and pig farms.
People drive over a drawbridge in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina as millions of people have been told to evacuate the area in advance of Hurricane Florence. Photo / AP
Forecasters and politicians pleaded with the public to take the warnings seriously and minced no words in describing the threat.
"This storm is a monster. It's big and it's vicious. It is an extremely, dangerous, life-threatening, historic hurricane," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.
He added: "The waves and the wind this storm may bring is nothing like you've ever seen. Even if you've ridden out storms before, this one is different. Don't bet your life on riding out a monster."
North and South Carolina and Virginia ordered mass evacuations along the coast. But getting out of harm's way could prove difficult.
Florence is so wide that a life-threatening storm surge was being pushed 480km ahead of its eye, and so wet that a swath of states from South Carolina to Ohio and Pennsylvania could get deluged.
People across the region rushed to buy bottled water and other supplies, board up their homes or get out of town.
US President Donald Trump listens during a briefing on Hurricane Florence in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington yesterday. Photo / AP
A line of heavy traffic moved away from the coast on Interstate 40, the main route between the port city of Wilmington and inland Raleigh.
Between the two cities, about two hours apart, the traffic flowed smoothly in places and became gridlocked in others because of fender-benders.
Only a trickle of vehicles was going in the opposite direction, including pickup trucks carrying plywood and other building materials.
This September 10, 2018, GOES East satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Florence as it threatens the US East Coast. Photo / via AP
Service stations started running out of gas as far west as Raleigh, with bright yellow bags, signs or rags placed over the pumps to show they were out of order.
At 2pm, the storm was centered 1360km southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, moving at 28kmh. It was a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm but was expected to keep drawing energy from the warm water and intensify to near Category 5, which means winds of 253kmh or higher.
"This one really scares me," National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham said.
Forecasters said parts of North Carolina could get 50cm of rain, if not more, with as much as 25cm elsewhere in the state and in Virginia, parts of Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Brandon Alston carries a board to be placed over a window of the Casemate Museum on Fort Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia, which could be hit by torrential rain. Photo / AP
One trusted computer model, the European simulation, predicted more than 115cm in parts of North Carolina. A year ago, people would have laughed off such a forecast, but the European model was accurate in predicting 152cm of rain for Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, so "you start to wonder what these models know that we don't," said University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy.
Rain measured in feet is "looking likely," he said.
On Parris Island, South Carolina, recruits were ordered evacuated from the Marine Corps' biggest training installation on the East Coast.
The storm forced people to cut their vacations short along the coast.
Paula Matheson of Springfield, Oregon, got the full Southern experience during her 10-week RV vacation: hot weather, good food, beautiful beaches and, now, a hurricane evacuation.
Florence interrupted her stay on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It took Matheson and her husband nearly the whole day Monday to drive the 100km off the barrier island.
"It was so beautiful. The water was fabulous. Eighty-five degrees [29.5C]," Matheson said, pausing a moment. "I guess that's a big part of the problem."
Residents of the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, fill sand bags at the Isle of Palms municipal lot where the city was giving away free sand in preparation for Hurricane Florence. Photo / AP
Florence could slam the Carolinas harder than any hurricane since Hazel, which hit in 1954 with 209kmh winds. The Category 4 storm destroyed 15,000 buildings and killed 19 people in North Carolina.
In the six decades since, many thousands of people have moved to the coast.
Florence's projected path includes half a dozen nuclear power plants, pits holding coal-ash and other industrial waste, and numerous hog farms that store animal waste in huge lagoons.
Duke Energy spokesman Ryan Mosier said operators would begin shutting down nuclear plants at least two hours before hurricane-force winds arrive.
North Carolina's governor issued what he called a first-of-its-kind mandatory evacuation order for North Carolina's fragile barrier islands from one end of the coast to the other. Typically local governments in North Carolina make the call on evacuations.
"We've seen nor'easters and we've seen hurricanes before," Cooper said, "but this one is different."
