Hurricane Florence is Category 3 now but still ‘extremely dangerous'

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Hurricane Florence has been downgraded to a Category 3 storm as of Wednesday afternoon. Although the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm is weakening, it’s still forecasted to be extremely dangerous.

Florence had maximum sustained winds of 215 km per hour and was on a trajectory that showed its centre most likely to strike the southern coast of North Carolina by Friday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Updated NHC forecasts showed the storm lingering near the coast, bringing days of heavy rains that could bring intense inland flooding from South Carolina, where some areas could see as much as one metre of rain, to Virginia.

“This storm is a monster,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said. “Even if you’ve ridden out storms before, this one is different. Don’t bet your life on riding out a monster.”

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He cited forecasts showing Florence was likely to stall over North Carolina, “bringing days and days of rain.”

More than one million people have been ordered to evacuate the coastline of the three states, while university campuses, schools and factories were being shuttered.

The NHC said the first tropical storm-force winds of at least 63 kph would hit the region early on Thursday with the storm’s centre reaching the coast Friday. At 8 a.m. on Wednesday the storm was located about 855 km southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina.

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