Southeast prepares for Hurricane Florence

UPDATE: The National Weather Service upgraded Hurricane Florence to a Category 4 storm at noon Monday, reporting top sustained winds of 130 mph. At midday, Florence was centered about 1,230 miles east-southeast of Cape Fear, N.C., and was moving west at 13 mph. The National Hurricane Center said the storm center will travel between Bermuda and the Bahamas Tuesday and Wednesday and approach the coast of South Carolina or North Carolina on Thursday.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (11:37 a.m.): A quickly intensifying Hurricane Florence could strike the southeastern United States as a Category 4 storm later this week. Florence strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane on Sunday and reached Category 3 status by Monday morning, with top winds of 115 mph. The National Hurricane Center said Florence is “expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane.”

Monday morning, the storm was centered about 600 miles southeast of Bermuda, and forecasters said it could blow ashore in the Carolinas by Thursday, though it is too early to know the exact path. Residents along the East Coast are preparing for up to a foot or two of rain, inland flooding, storm surge, and damaging winds. The governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia have declared states of emergency. South Carolina’s emergency management system said it is preparing for the possibility of a “large-scale disaster.” The University of North Carolina at Wilmington on Sunday canceled all classes and issued a voluntary evacuation for students starting at noon Monday.