Video footage captured on Sept. 13 showed a photographer nearly getting swept away by Hurricane Florence’s floodwaters.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in its latest update on 5 p.m., Florence had 100 mph winds, and the storm slowed down considerably to 5 mph.
Hurricane-force winds are getting closer to North Carolina’s Outer Banks and the coastal southeastern portion of the state, the NHC said.
Hurricane warnings and storm surge warnings were still in effect from South Santee River in South Carolina to Duck in North Carolina and the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds.
It added: “Radar data indicate that Florence may be developing an outer eyewall. If this trend continues, then little change to the intensity is likely until landfall occurs in about 24 hours due in part to the low vertical wind shear conditions and the warm, deep waters of the Gulfstream current.”
U.S. forecasters said that the storm is slated to weaken after landfall.