Monster storm roars towards Carolina
us president signs declarations oF emergency power could be out For weeks in some places Flights cancelled to and From the hurricane zone
wilmington — Hurricane Florence churned across the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday packing winds of 215 kmph as an emergency management official warned the monster storm would deliver a “Mike Tyson punch” to the Carolina coast. President Donald Trump urged residents to heed orders to evacuate and said the federal government was “ready for the big one that is coming”.
“Get out of its way, don’t play games with it, it’s a big one, maybe as big as they’ve seen,” Trump said. “We’ll handle it. We’re ready, we’re able. But despite that, bad things can happen when you are talking about a storm this size,” he added.
Florence is currently a Category 4 storm on the five-point Saffir- Simpson hurricane wind scale and is forecast to slam into the Carolinas late on Thursday or early Friday. —
$20b Allocated for Fema’s disaster relief fund
Highways clogged with people fleeing North and South Carolina early on Wednesday as monstrous Category 4 Hurricane Florence rumbled toward the eastern US as the biggest storm there in decades.
While many coastal residents heeded mandatory evacuation orders, others boarded up homes and businesses and chose to brave the storm, which is forecast to trigger severe flash flooding as it dumps as many as three feet (almost a meter) of rain in some areas. Life-threatening storm surges of up to a staggering 13 feet in some places were also forecast.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned that staying put would be a grave mistake and said people in evacuation zones “need to get out now.”
“This is not a storm that people need to ride out,” Cooper told reporters. “This is a storm that is historic, maybe once in a lifetime.”
Up to 1.7 million people in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have been given voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders, according to emergency management officials, as the storm churned across the Atlantic Ocean towards the coast. The eastbound lanes of several major highways have been shut down to allow for a smooth flow of traffic inland.
“We are already experiencing heavily impacted traffic on some of the evacuation routes,” said Jeff Byard, the associate administrator for response and recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
Forecasters are predicting that Florence will make landfall in the Carolinas late Thursday or early Friday as a still powerful Category 3 hurricane.
As of 5am, Florence was a dangerous Category 4 hurricane packing sustained winds of 130 miles per hour the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. It was located 575 miles east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and moving at 17 mph (28 kph) in a west-northwest direction.
Briefing from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump urged people to heed orders to evacuate, saying “if you are asked to leave, get out.”
“This will be a storm that’s going to be far larger than we have seen in perhaps decades,” Trump said.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Trump, Fema administrator Brock Long said Florence may be a “very devastating storm.” “The power will be off for weeks,” Long said. “You’re going to be displaced from your home in coastal areas. There will be flooding in inland areas as well.”
Byard, the Fema official, said “this storm is not going to be a glancing blow.”“This storm is going to be a direct hit.” “Hurricane Florence is the strongest storm to target the Carolinas and this part of our country in decades,” Byard said.
The NHC said Florence is expected to be an “extremely dangerous major hurricane” when it makes landfall in the Carolinas late Thursday or early Friday, bringing life-threatening storm surge to coastal areas. A state of emergency has been declared in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington amid concern over potential torrential rain and flooding.
The last time the US capital declared a state of emergency was in January 2016 when a winter storm dubbed “Snowzilla” blanketed the capital region in kneedeep snow.
In Charleston, South Carolina, some residents were making preparations to leave Tuesday while others planned to ride out the storm. Streets were quiet with schools and many offices and businesses closed.
Michael Kennedy, an engineer at Boeing, said he planned to leave on Tuesday for his parents’ home in Atlanta, Georgia.
But his partner, Emily Whisler, said she will remain behind at the university where she is a resident in the psychiatry program.
“They told me to bring a pillow and blanket,” Whisler said. “I’ll be living there for a few days.”
Charleston, resident William Belli said he would not be among those joining the exodus.
“Been through it!” Belli said, referring to Hurricane Hugo, which caused widespread damage in South Carolina in 1989. “Not worried in the least.”
Walking his dog along empty streets, Belli said he’s well stocked with food and water.
“I will enjoy the quiet,” he said. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on Monday ordered the mandatory evacuation of one million coastal residents. Schools in 26 of the state’s 46 counties were ordered closed from Tuesday.
Cooper, the governor of neighboring North Carolina, ordered an evacuation of the Outer Banks, barrier islands that are a popular tourist destination, and parts of coastal Dare County.
In Virginia, 245,000 coastal residents were ordered to evacuate including from the Eastern Shore, another popular beachfront destination.
In neighboring Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan said his state was readying for potentially “historic and catastrophic rainfall, lifethreatening flooding, and high winds.”