Hurricane Florence Tracker: Path Narrows, Forecast to ‘Stall’

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Hurricane Florence is continuing to move west-northwest and is still forecast to hit North Carolina and South Carolina, bringing destructive storm surges, rain, and wind.

According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) latest forecast at 2 p.m. on Sept 11, the storm has 130 mph winds and is moving west-northwest at 17 mph.

A hurricane watch is now in effect for Edisto Beach South Carolina to the North Carolina-Virginia border as well as Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, including the Neuse and Pamlico rivers, the NHC said.

The agency said, “Interests elsewhere in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic states should monitor the progress of Florence. Additional watches may be required later today.”

Hurricane Florence is continuing to move west-northwest and is still forecast to hit North Carolina and South Carolina, bringing destructive storm surge, rains, and wind. NHC

Florence, it added, is also expected to strengthen even more over the next several days before it is forecast to hit the southeastern United States on Friday morning at around 8 a.m. local time, Sept. 14. Tropical storm-force winds are expected to hit the coasts of South and North Carolina by the morning of Sept. 13.

“A west- northwestward to northwestward motion with a slight increase in forward speed are expected during the next couple of days. On the forecast track, the center of Florence will move over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Bahamas through Wednesday, and approach the coast of North Carolina or South Carolina in the hurricane watch area Thursday and Friday,” the NHC said.

According to CNN, more than 1 million people have been told to evacuate coastal areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

After the storm hits the Carolinas, it is then forecast to threaten parts of Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania with heavy rains and inland flooding, CNN reported.

“This will be a storm that creates and causes massive damage to our country,” Jeff Byard, Federal Emergency Management Agency associate administrator, told CNN on Sept. 11. “It is going to be ... a long-term recovery,” Byard said. “This is not going to be a storm that we recover from in days.”

Predicted rainfall totals for Hurricane Florence. NHC

Devastating Stall Predicted

In its discussion, the NHC said that Florence is predicted to “slow down significantly“ in the 72 hours before it approaches land. “On days 4 and 5, an even slower motion or drift to the west and northwest is forecast, which will exacerbate the heavy rainfall threat,” according to the NHC.

Other forecasters have predicted that Florence could also stall over Virginia, the Carolinas, and several mid-Atlantic states for possibly several days, which would bring catastrophic flooding to the area.

“There’s never been a storm like Florence. It was located farther north in the Atlantic than any other storm to ever hit the Carolinas, so what we’re forecasting is unprecedented. Also, most storms coming into the Carolinas tend to move northward, and this storm looks like it’s going to stall over the region and potentially bring tremendous, life-threatening flooding,” AccuWeather meteorologist Marshall Moss said on Sept. 11.