Florence Now a Major Category 4 Hurricane; Destructive Strike Likely on Southeast Coast

Hurricane Florence has intensified into a Category 4 hurricane southeast of Bermuda since earlier this morning when it was originally registered as category 3; where winds increased from 75 mph to 130 mph, and is likely to hit the East Coast on Thursday bringing a life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, massive inland rainfall flooding, tropical storm force winds, and generating dangerous surf and rip currents along the East Coast. Florence's central pressure decreased from 969 millibars to 946 millibars earlier in the a.m, indicating it is growing rapidly in strength. https://weather.com/safety/hurricane/news/2018-09-10-hurricane-florence-forecast-us-east-coast

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/us/florence-hurricane-season-wxc/index.html

Current Status:
As of 12pm ET, Florence was more than 1,200 miles east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, moving westbound.

And as of 3:18pm, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster ordered a mandatory evacuation of the state's entire 187-mile coastline beginning at 12:00pm ET Tuesday afternoon.