‘Life-threatening’ Hurricane Florence closes in on US east coast
Hurricane Florence edged closer to the east coast of the United States on Thursday, with tropical-force winds and rain lashing barrier islands off the North Carolina mainland.
The storm weakened to a Category 2 hurricane overnight, but forecasters said it still packed a dangerous punch – 175-kilometre-an-hour winds and torrential rains. Georgia and four other coastal states issued an emergency declaration as forecasts showed Florence dumping immense amounts of rain on the state.
As Florence closed in, President Donald Trump and state and local officials urged residents in the path of the storm to evacuate their homes.
“We are completely ready for Hurricane Florence, as the storm gets even larger and more powerful. Be careful!” Mr Trump tweeted.
The UAE Embassy in the US sent out a safety warning to UAE citizens in the country as the deadly threat of a monster hurricane loomed large.
The embassy tweeted: “Attention UAE citizens in Virginia, North and South Carolina, as #HurricaneFlorence (a category 4 hurricane) approaches, stay tuned to your local news for safety instructions and evacuation procedures.”
Appeals to stay safe came from as far away as space. German astronaut Alexander Gerst tweeted pictures of the monster storm taken from the International Space Station along with the warning: “Watch out, America!”
The National Hurricane Centre downgraded Florence to a Category 2 storm from Category 3 on the five-level Saffir-Simpson wind scale, the second such drop in the space of hours.
But the Miami-based NHC said it remained “a life-threatening situation” owing to the risks of storm surges around coastal areas. Up to 1.7 million people are under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders, and coastal residents were frantically boarding up homes and businesses and hitting the road on Wednesday as the storm approached.
“Get out of its way, don’t play games with it, it’s a big one, maybe as big as they’ve seen,” Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
“We’ll handle it. We’re ready, we’re able. Protection of life is the absolute highest priority.”
Florence is forecast to dump up to a metre of rain in some areas after it makes landfall in North and South Carolina on Thursday night or Friday.
“This rainfall would produce catastrophic flash flooding and significant river flooding,” the NHC said.
Potentially deadly storm surges of up to four metres were also forecast in some areas, with the possibility of tornadoes in North Carolina.