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RALEIGH, N.C. – With mandatory evacuations already taking place in parts of three states on the East Coast, millions of Americans are preparing for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the East Coast in recent decades. Strong winds were forecast at 130 km / h on Tuesday morning, but they remain a Category 4 storm and are expected to intensify to near Category 5 status, as they slow down very hot seawater near North Carolina. and South Carolina.
The size of Hurricane Florence is "staggering," warned the director of the National Hurricane Center, Ken Graham.
"We could cover multiple states easily with cloud cover alone," said Graham. "It's not just a coastal event."
The center of the massive storm is expected to hit the coastline already saturated by rising sea levels, and then rob Thursday, Friday and Saturday, flooding several states and causing potentially life-threatening floods. Total precipitation over seven days is expected to reach 10 to 20 inches over most of North Carolina and Virginia, and even 30 inches in some places. Combined with high tide, the storm surge could reach 12 feet.
"The water could overtake some of these barrier islands and keep moving in. Over time, the wind pushes the water into every nook and cranny you can imagine," Graham said. "All you have to do is look at your ceiling and think about 12 feet (of water) .It is very dangerous for life."
The first effects of the storm were already visible on the barrier islands as dangerous tear currents hit the beaches and the sea water ran down a state highway – the front sign The watches were in effect on Tuesday for a storm surge that could reach 12 feet at high tide on a stretch from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout in North Carolina, forecasters said.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Edisto Beach, South Carolina, up to the southern border of Virginia, and the first hurricane force winds arriving late Thursday.
"Please be prepared, be careful and be safe!" President Donald Trump tweeted Monday evening.
The governor of South Carolina ordered the evacuation of the entire state shoreline as of noon Tuesday and predicted that one million people would flee. CBS News correspondent David Begnaud said the traffic lanes at noon would be reversed on four of the largest roads leading to the South Carolina coast. The cars will be able to circulate only inland.
Similar evacuations are occurring up in Virginia, where the governor has ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents of some low-lying coastal areas.
A satellite image provided by the National Hurricane Center shows that Hurricane Florence struck the southeast of the east coast in the early morning of September 11, 2018.
NOAA / NWS / National Hurricane Center
For many people, the challenge might be to find a safe haven: if Florence slows off the coast, it could lead to torrential rains in the Appalachians and even in West Virginia, causing flash floods, mudslides and other dangerous conditions. .
On Tuesday, the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, declared the state of emergency in the district before the hurricane, with immediate effect. On Monday, Maryland's Governor Larry Hogan said the state's state of emergency.
The governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, said his state was "on the verge" of the storm and urged people to "get ready now". The center of the center is Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps training base, where the authorities open emergency operations centers, stage equipment and invite families to build survival kits with food for 72 hours.
Mandatory coastal evacuations were in effect for civilians in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, but the military base posted on Facebook that different chains of command would decide to release non-essential personnel. t be able to evacuate in time.
Projections of Hurricane Florence
The potential trajectory of the storm also includes half a dozen nuclear power plants, pits containing coal ash and other industrial wastes, and many hog farms that store animal waste in massive open-pit lagoons.
Airlines, including US and Southwest airlines, have begun letting passengers change their travel plans that lead them into the possible hurricane path.
All signs indicate a hurricane stronger, slower, wider and wetter in the coming days, forecasters said.
A warm ocean gives hurricanes fuel and Florence moves to an area where the water temperature is near 85 degrees (30 degrees Celsius), writes Eric Blake, a hurricane specialist. With low wind shear to separate the storm, hurricane force winds extended 64 kilometers (64 miles) from the eye of the storm and tropical storm force winds 150 miles from the center .
"Unfortunately, the models were right – Florence quickly turned into a hugely dangerous hurricane," Blake wrote on Monday night that sustained winds would reach the 157 km / h threshold for a category 5 scenario. morning, data from hurricane planes support this forecast, the center said.
Florence could hit the Carolinas harder than any hurricane since Hazel raced 130 km / h – 209 km / h in 1954. This Category 4 storm destroyed 15,000 buildings and killed 19 people in North Carolina . In the six decades since then, thousands of people have migrated to the coast.
Preparations for Florence were intensifying on the densely populated coast. The parking lot was filled for three days at the Ace Hardware store on the Calabash coast in North Carolina, where manager Tom Roberts said he sold 150 gas cans in two hours Monday, generators, plywood, ropes , manual can openers. and a plethora of other items.
"I've been doing it since 1983," Roberts said while completing an order for another 18-wheeler full of supplies. "It's the craziest."
Many newcomers have settled on the coast over the last 19 years, after the last violent hurricane – Floyd – that threatened the area. Roberts said that he told them to get out of the city.
"I tell them to go to the land, but I'm also worried about rain and tornadoes," Roberts said.
On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, 50-year-old Dawn Farrow Taylor was collecting photos and important documents and filling orders Monday before going to the land. She grew up on the island chain and says it will only be the second time that she will be evacuated.
"I do not think that many of us have ever gone through a category 4. And here we are so fragile.We are only a strip of land – we are a barrier island", a- she declared.
Two other storms were turning in the Atlantic. Hurricane Isaac is expected to lose strength when it reaches the Caribbean and Helene, much further offshore, could head north into the open sea when the hurricane season of 2018 reaches its peak.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Olivia triggered warnings for several Hawaiian islands as it blew westward toward the state on Tuesday night or early Wednesday.
