Hurricane Florence: Residents urged to rush as ‘unprecedented disaster’ looms
HURRICANE Florence is heading to the east coast of the United States and residents have been warned time is running out to make adequate preparations for “the storm of the century” - with one expert claiming the state of North Carolina is facing “an unprecedented disaster”.
Hurricane Florence will cause 'Massive destruction' says forecast
The National Hurricane Center issued a stark message in a tweet as the massive storm, which is 350 miles wide, draws ever closer.
It posted: “Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.”
Florence is predicted to make landfall tomorrow, with states of emergency in effect in North and South Carolina and Virginia.
The NHC is warning it will bring the risk of “life-threatening storm surge and rainfall” and “catastrophic flash flooding and significant river flooding” to parts of the mid-Atlantic states.
Florence, a category 4 hurricane, is currently moving in a west-northwesterly direction at 17mph.
Maximum sustained winds are approaching 130mph, with higher gusts expected.
As of 8am EST today, it was 530 miles from Cape Fear.
Swells generated by Florence are already affecting Bermuda and portions of the US East Coast.
This could be an unprecedented disaster for North Carolina
The NHC has said these are likely to result in “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
US President Donald Trump has pledged that the federal government was “ready for the big one”.
He observed that Florence was "tremendously big, tremendously wet".
However, Brian McNoddy, a senior research associate at University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, warned: “This could be an unprecedented disaster for North Carolina.
“Hurricane and storm surge watches now blanket much of the South Carolina and North Carolina coasts, and enormous rainfall totals could be in store for coastal areas as well as inland.”
Roughly 1.7 million in North Carolina, neighbouring South Carolina and Virginia have been told to evacuate coastal areas
The approach of Florence has seen panic-buying at petrol stations in North Carolina.
Lauren Hancock, a resident of Wrightsville Beach in the state’s evacuation zone, said: “I’m looking across the street at a gas station, and it’s a madhouse.
“People are honking at each other, cars are almost lined up out to the street.
“There are several gas stations out of gas.”
Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with retail tracking service GasBuddy, predicted shortages could occur at more than one in 10 petrol stations across North Carolina.
In Carolina Beach, an island community off the coast of Wilmington, 75 percent of residents have already left town.
Town manager Michael Cramer told the New York Times he was worried Florence would be even more devastating than Hurricane Hazel, which lashed the town in 1954, destroying 362 buildings.