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Hurricane Florence still a threat despite downgrade

Hurricane conditions from Florence are expected to fully reach land by Friday this week. “It’s possible that the west coast of Wales and Cornwall could get some winds as well, but we will get a clearer picture of what to expect very soon”. “We have a day off. Let’s get drunk!'” Jordan Berry, the barman at a local sports bar, told the site.

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And the storm is still expected to bring catastrophic winds, rain, storm surges and flooding, the National Hurricane Center briefing said.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is foreboding in his assessment Hurricane Florence. “Tens of thousands of structures are expected to be flooded, and many more by rising rivers and creeks”.

Although Florence has recently been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, it’s still set to be devastating.

Florence’s sustained winds were 165 km/h, with gusts up to 204 km/h on Thursday afternoon.

“I’m not approaching Florence from fear or panic”, said Brad Corpening, 35, who planned to ride out the storm in his boarded-up delicatessen in Wilmington. “We can not underestimate this storm”.

Tropical storm winds extend much further out, at 195 miles, which is allowing the coast of North Carolina to begin feeling an impact from Florence. That’s enough to fill more than 15 million Olympic-size swimming pools. The storm was 500 miles wide at the time, with its outer bands stretching over the equivalent of a full third of the U.S. East Coast.

“It’s cumulative damage”, Myers said.

Next week, when Florence has finally passed the Carolinas and moved into the Ohio Valley, the rain will have been the big story. “There are approximately 800 line workers and tree personnel actively engaged in storm response preparations”. Also, the hurricane-force winds and tropical storm-force winds have been expanding.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for the South Santee River in SC to Duck, North Carolina, and Albemarle and Pamlico sounds.

Hurricane Florence’s sustained wind speeds have lessened slightly to 105 miles per hour, but the storm is already bringing surges and tropical storm winds to the North Carolina shore, the National Hurricane Center said in an 11 a.m. briefing.

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Persistent rains with 160 km/h winds or higher will take their toll on structures. “While that rain is still coming down for a couple of days, one to two days later you’re going to have stuff coming from North Carolina and things coming in from the Upstate”.

Boeing evacuated several new 787-10 Dreamliner jets from its factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, to protect them from the storm.

“They try to stay open as long as they can”, Kourounis said. They also instituted a 24-hour curfew. Officials have warned the few that stayed behind of the dangers ahead.

“This is a horrific nightmare storm from a meteorological perspective”, University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said.

“Our sand dunes are healthy but they’re not going to be able to keep back a wall of water like that”, he said. “Flooding is nearly guaranteed”.

Rainfall will accumulate near 2 feet in North Carolina. She packed up what she could and took a ferry.

“All the way from Arizona to ME, if you just trace a diagonal line on a map and take it right through Chicago, most areas under that line have clear skies right now”, he said.

This image of Hurricane Florence was captured by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, now living and working onboard the International Space Station.

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Watching the scene unfold from space, German Alexander Gerst, an astronaut on board the ISS, tweeted photos of the enormous storm. Hurricane Helene is veering toward Europe. More flights were expected to be grounded and more airports were preparing to shut down operations as the storm moves inland. Those four storms are brewing at the same time Hurricane Olivia is pounding Hawaii.

LIVE STREAM: Tracking Hurricane Florence as it takes aim at Southeast