UPDATED: Hurricane Florence rapidly intensifies to Category 4, evacuation orders begin in N.C.
Source: Washington Post
Hurricane Florence is rapidly intensifying on its path toward the East Coast and is now a Category 4 with 130 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said in a special update. Florence is expected to strengthen to 150 mph just prior to landfall somewhere on the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic Coast on Thursday night.
Computer model forecasts generally project the storm to make landfall between northern South Carolina and the North Carolina Outer Banks, although shifts in the track are still possible and storm impacts will expand great distances beyond where landfall occurs. Given the uncertainty and the time it takes to evacuate, officials in North Carolina have issued mandatory evacuation orders for Dare County and Hatteras Island.
With each passing flight into the eye of the storm and every new computer model forecast, it has become increasingly unlikely Florence will turn out to sea and spare the Eastern Seaboard from potentially devastating storm surge, flooding and wind. There’s even some indication the hurricane will slow or stall out over the Mid-Atlantic later this week, which could lead to a disastrous amount of rain.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/09/09/florence-strengthens-to-hurricane-and-poses-extreme-threat-to-southeast-and-mid-atlantic/?utm_term=.7f5f72b57840&wpisrc=al_news__alert-national&wpmk=1
NOW UPDATED.
Original title/article -
Hurricane Florence is rapidly intensifying on its path toward the East Coast and is now a Category 3 with 115 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. update. Florence is expected to become a strong Category 4 hurricane -- nearly a Category 5 -- just prior to landfall somewhere on the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic Coast on Thursday night.
Computer model forecasts generally project the storm to make landfall between northern South Carolina and the North Carolina Outer Banks, although shifts in the track are still possible and storm impacts will expand great distances beyond where landfall occurs. Given the uncertainty and the time it takes to evacuate, officials in North Carolina have issued mandatory evacuation orders for Dare County and Hatteras Island.
With each passing flight into the eye of the storm and every new computer model forecast, it has become increasingly unlikely Florence will turn out to sea and spare the Eastern Seaboard from potentially devastating storm surge, flooding and wind. There's even some indication the hurricane will slow or stall out over the Mid-Atlantic later this week, which could lead to a disastrous amount of rain.
"There is an increasing risk of life-threatening impacts from Florence: Storm surge at the coast, freshwater flooding from a prolonged and exceptionally heavy rainfall event inland and damaging hurricane-force winds," the National Hurricane Center wrote Monday. Storm surge is the rise in ocean water above normally dry land at the coast, which can inundate homes, roads and businesses.
I was literally just on the NHC webpage looking at the latest update and the path has stayed pretty steady headed towards the Carolinas. There is still more bath water for it to go through to strengthen on its way.
And here is a scary tweet from the article -
Link to tweet
TEXT
Bob Henson
✔
@bhensonweather
If the latest NHC forecast comes to pass, #Florence will be the only hurricane on record to make a Cat 4 U.S. landfall so far north. The dramatic slowing on Friday, and the implied risk of extreme rainfall, is the other very concerning detail on this map. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
11:12 PM - Sep 9, 2018
= new reply since forum marked as read
similar to what the models have been suggesting Florence will do, some areas there got 40+" of rain. Harvey hit TX as a Cat 4 and it literally obliterated the little towns of Rockaport and Fulton, TX. That is when the famous "blue shed" that managed to survive intact, made its national appearance (those who watched the Jeff Piotrowski livestream got to know it well)!
being in a supermarket in SC when an EAS (Emergency Alert System) alert went out and everyone's phone in the store started alarming. That is part of how they handle it nowadays. I believe all new phones have to be EAS-capable and the NWS has access (as well as gov't officials) to utilize the system to do blast alerts (plus EAS alerts will appear on local TV stations as a red scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen, and will often be heard on radio as well if it is a high enough priority alert).
There is also "Ready.gov" and many municipalities have "Ready <fill in blank>" sites setup to automatically send out text messages and/or emails to alert to various emergencies, whether local or national (including weather-related). I know I am subscribed here to Philly's "ReadyPhiladelphia" feed.
One of the dangers of too much "national" hype is that this is a huge country and in this case, the hurricane is not going to affect places like California (and their wildfires are not going to affect us over here in Philly), so much of the info blast that you may be looking for is going to be "local".
You can try checking out the steams of the local news stations in the affected states and will definitely see the "messaging" that I am sure is going on!!! 
Our fearless leader will toss paper towels to the people that got soaked.
I wondered to myself how quickly 45 will be on the scene to throw paper towels into the crowd. Truly inspiring leadership right there... 
flooding rains, endless T-Storm trains, straight line winds and tornados. A motel I was staying at up north got taken out by a small tornado, shut the highway down, spent the night, no electric &, in the morning, no water 
I am hoping the 0Zs will come to a consensus - and they really need to get a better idea within 48 hours of landfall.
(you are making me exert my hobby on 2 forums - this and a weather forum - at the same time!!!!!!! 
)
(have been on the above since 2007 when it was still called EasternWX)
is that the wind field has expanded so hurricane-force and tropical-storm force winds will be impacting a larger area (radius) than expected. Plus the expectation continues to be that it will stall for a bit and drift, which means that it will just sit and unleash wind-swept rain in the same general area until it finally gets caught up in a cold front anticipated to move through the area next week.
The big question mark of the moment is whether it will actually landfall somewhere or just sit barely off the coast and drift south.
Anyone interested in seeing Florence's power can check out the livestream at Frying Pan Shoals (at the platform) -
(I expect "someone" might complain about what's left of that flag!
)