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Hurricane Florence, already powerful, has been reinforced even earlier Monday afternoon, as the storm continued to clear its way across the Atlantic Ocean with an eye on parts of the Mid-Atlantic coast.
National hurricane center forecasters said in a special noon announcement that Florence was rapidly escalating into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 hurricane with sustained maximum winds approaching 130 mph.
An hour earlier, Florence was commissioned in category 3. But the storm quickly gained momentum with the warm waters of the Atlantic. His center will move between Bermuda and the Bahamas from Tuesday to Thursday, before approaching the Carolinas on Thursday.
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At the top and bottom of the coast, locals rushed to prepare emergency kits, trace evacuation routes and secure their homes in anticipation of the onslaught of rain and wind as the storm struck. intensifying.
Governors of North and South Carolina and Virginia declared the state of emergency in front of the land, while a mandatory evacuation was ordered for the outside banks. Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster also suspended his campaign and asked President Donald Trump for a federal declaration of urgency.
"Someone is going to suffer devastating damage if this storm continues as it is currently planned," said Dan Miller, a meteorologist from Columbia's National Weather Service, to The State newspaper.
Eric Blake, hurricane specialist in central Miami, wrote in a previous opinion that a warm ocean is the fuel that fuels hurricanes, and Florence moves on waters where temperatures reach nearly 85 degrees. He said that with low wind shear to separate the storm, the Florence wind field is expected to expand over the next few days.
"The bottom line is that there is growing confidence in the fact that Florence will be a hurricane important and extremely dangerous, regardless of its exact intensity," Blake said.
Preparations intensified along the densely populated coast.
Off the coast of Virginia, naval ships prepare to sail in front of Florence. Nearly 30 ships are preparing from the Norfolk Naval Base and the Little Creek Common Expeditionary Base.
"Our ships can better withstand storms of this magnitude when they are underway," said Admiral Christopher Grady, commander of the US fleet, in a statement released earlier this weekend.
Meanwhile, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has canceled classes and a weekend of alumni, encouraging students to leave the campus for a safer place.
Officials warn that Florence could slow down or stall on or near the coast, potentially causing devastating floods on the land.
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"To pretend, to assume, to assume that a major hurricane will strike right in the middle of South Carolina and will go down well," McMaster said. The state's emergency management agency said that she "was preparing for the eventuality of a large-scale disaster."
On the Charleston coast, city officials offered sandbags to residents. The Mayor of Myrtle Beach, Brenda Bethune, urged people to secure their homes, but said it was too early to know if evacuations would be ordered.
"Literally, they fill strollers full of water, baskets filled with water," said Ryan Deeck, Walmart's director of grocery services. "They come and buy water and plates, and that's pretty much all they buy."
Lined up behind Florence, Isaac was about 1,150 miles east of the Windward Islands, with winds of 75 mph on Monday morning, moving westward at 14 mph. The move ahead of Isaac was accelerating on a way to cross into the lower Caribbean on Thursday.
Helene, meanwhile, was still in the Atlantic spawning area for hurricanes off the African coast.
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and Lucas Tomlinson and Associated Press contributed to this report.
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