Hurricane Florence has already stripped power from more than 150,000 homes and businesses late Thursday evening as the storm encroached on North Carolina’s coast.
[New: Trump praises FEMA, first responders as Hurricane Florence makes landfall]
According to the Weather Channel, 158,000 homes and businesses no longer have power as of late Thursday evening. Flooding has also started, and a storm surge of 10 feet was reported in some areas.
“A storm surge of 10 feet above normal levels was reported by the National Weather Service office in Morehead City, North Carolina, at the Cherry Branch Ferry Terminal on the Neuse River,” the National Hurricane Center reported late Thursday evening. The storm was designated a Category 1 as of 11 p.m. Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour.
[Opinion: Trump ducks as Hurricane Florence dunks the Atlantic coast]
Although the outer bands started to strike North Carolina on Thursday, the meat of the storm is expected to make landfall on Friday and conditions will escalate.
The storm is expected to strike the coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina before heading inland as it continues to weaken, according to the National Hurricane Center.
But the European model projects that the hurricane’s center will strike the coast of Wilmington, N.C., and then make a second landfall near Charleston.
