HIGH ALERT AS WILD FLORENCE CAUSES MASS EVACUATION

HURRICANE Florence has intensified into a Category 4 hurricane, prompting evacuations of more than one million people in the US to higher ground. With maximum sustained winds of 220km/h, Florence was due to get even stronger before making landfall on Thursday, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. Authorities worried about the storm’s potential to unleash prolonged torrential rains and widespread flooding across several states, especially if it lingers inland for days.

“Florence is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday,” the NHC said.

Maps of the storm’s trajectory showed it most likely to hit the North Carolina shore near the South Carolina border, making it the most powerful storm to strike the Carolinas in nearly three decades.

Emergency declarations were issued by the governors in both states, as well as in Virginia and Maryland.

“We are in the bull’s-eye,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told a news conference.

Picture: NASA VIA AP This photo provided by NASA shows Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station on Monday, as it threatens the US east coast.