Update (7:30 am ET): Florence has officially made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.
Here’s the most recent update from the NHC, which was issued shortly before the eye of the storm came ashore:
✔Hurricane #Florence 6 am Update. Florence is about to make landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina.
In what will come as a relief to many, Gov. Roy Cooper confirmed that there have yet to be any storm-related deaths.
✔“Now it’s time to move from preparation to determination…We have no reported storm-related deaths at this point.” @NC_Governor updates us on the latest #HurricaneFlorence rescues in his state
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North Carolina’s Outer Banks were getting absolutely pummeled by wind and rain Friday morning as Hurricane Florence neared the coast, with the eye-wall of the storm (believed to be the area where the wind and rain are most severe) roughly 25 miles away from making landfall, according to the NHC. The storm is expected to make landfall somewhere between Wilmington, NC and Cape Lookout. The storm has been downgraded to Category One as wind speeds slowed slightly, but meteorologists now expect the storm to slow down as it reaches the coast, allowing it even more time to cause severe flooding and wind damage.
Here’s a quick rundown of storm stats courtesy of Bloomberg:
- Max. sustained winds steady at 90mph
- Florence moving at 6mph; tropical storm force winds still extend outwards by 195 miles
- Observation site at Cape Lookout, N.C., reported sustained wind of 72mph and a gust of 90mph
- Storm surge still forecast to reach as much as 11 feet in parts of North Carolina; isolated totals of 30-40 inches of rain expected in parts of coastal North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina
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