Hurricane Florence is expected to become a dangerous "major hurricane" by late Monday as it heads toward the US East Coast, the National Hurricane Center said, as states of emergency were declared in preparation for the storm.
The center of Florence was located about 1,100 kilometers southeast of Bermuda, the NHC in its 0300 GMT Monday advisory.
Florence had maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour, making it a Category 1 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
The NHC warned that Florence "is forecast to rapidly strengthen to a major hurricane by Monday night, and is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday." The storm is moving towards the west at seven miles per hour, and is forecast to drench a large swath of the US East Coast running from northern Florida to New Jersey.
On its current track Florence is expected to slam the Carolinas and Virginia the hardest -- and all three states have issued emergency declarations to speed preparations.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam's office described Florence as possibly the state's "most significant hurricane event in decades," warning of "catastrophic inland flooding, high winds and possible widespread power outages."
It added: "The largest threat to life from hurricanes is not the high winds. Flooding is the deadliest result of these storms." The US navy has ordered ships at its major base in Hampton Roads, Virginia, base to put to sea, saying "the forecasted destructive winds and tidal surge are too great to keep the ships in port."
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