Carolinas prepare for Dorian to make a possible direct hit

As Hurricane Dorian began its exit out of Florida on Wednesday night, its width spanned nearly 200 miles and it blew at 110 mph — just 1 mph below a Category 3, the National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane was expected by Thursday morning to have left Florida waters entirely.

As Florida emerged from hurricane danger, Orlando’s airport reopened, as did

Walt Disney World and Universal.

Dorian was expected to continue skimming the Atlantic coastline dangerously close as it trudged north. The Carolinas were anticipating a direct hit in the next day or two.

On a day when the death toll from Dorian rose to 20 in the Bahamas, the first U.S. mainland death — an 85-year-old North Carolina man who fell off a ladder — was reported. One death in Puerto Rico also was blamed on Dorian.

Coastal Georgia and South Carolina were getting thrashed Wednesday night. A large swath of the southeastern and mid-Atlantic coasts was under threats of storm surge and flooding that forecasters warned could be deadly.

The Category 2 hurricane was 130 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, and moving at 8 mph at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

“A northeastward motion at a faster forward speed is forecast on Friday,” forecasters at the hurricane center said Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, feeder bands continued to sweep over the upper region of the state, roughing up the surf and seas northeast of St. Augustine.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect from the Flagler and Volusia county line up to the Savannah River, which forms the border between Georgia and South Carolina.

“On the forecast track, the center of Dorian will approach the coast of South Carolina tonight, move near or over the coast of South Carolina on Thursday, and move near or over the coast of North Carolina Thursday night and Friday,” forecasters predicted.

A hurricane warning extended through the Carolinas all the way up to the Virginia border.

Particularly at risk is North Carolina, where Cape Hatteras, Cape Fear and Cape Lookout bulge out into the Atlantic, making the state a frequent hurricane target.

The hurricane center said Dorian will soon curve northeast and “this motion should bring the center of Dorian near or over the coast of North Carolina” over the next 36 to 48 hours.

“Hurricane Dorian has its sights set on North Carolina,” Gov. Roy Cooper said. “We will be ready.”

The threat from water appears to be growing, from both rain and storm surge. Historically, 90 percent of hurricane fatalities come from water. About half of these have come from storm surge, although rain emerged as the biggest killer in the last three years of particularly wet hurricanes.

Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, said rainfall along the southeast coast could reach 10 inches, bringing a severe threat of flash flooding.

Meanwhile, the storm’s winds will pile up water along the coast, temporarily raising sea levels, on top of which will crash the storm’s waves.

In Georgia the storm surge could be 4 to 7 feet, off South Carolina 5 to 8 feet and off North Carolina 4 to 7 feet, he said.

“Dangerous situation when it comes to all that water,” Graham said. “Remember, water is the biggest source of fatalities in hurricanes.”

Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas as a Category 5 monster hurricane on Sunday and stalled there for more than 24 hours.

Of the 20 deaths Bahamian officials reported, 17 were on the island of Abaco and three were on Grand Bahama.

Hundreds of people remained missing Wednesday night.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who represents southern Broward County and northeast Miami-Dade County, said she was grateful that a number of her cousins who rode out Dorian on the islands survived.

But she was saddened for those who did not.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know how many people were washed away at sea,” she said.