Responsible for the displacement of more than 1.5 million people in North Carolina, hurricane Florence has lost strength and is now classified in category 3, with winds between 177 and 208 km / h. But it will tend to change course and should reach a much larger area on the east coast of the United States as of Friday morning (14).
"This will be a Mike Tyson off the coast of Carolina," Federal Emergency Management Agency (EAF) administrator Jeff Byard told CNN. "Today is the last good day for people to leave the site (hurricane passing)."
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the hurricane is expected to hit the mainland off the coast of North Carolina at 8 am Friday (9 am in Brasília). But instead of traveling across a stretch of coastline from South Carolina to Virginia, it's expected to advance into the interior of North Carolina.
Its presence, with storms and strong winds, should be noticed in six other states in the region - Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia. Heavy precipitation is expected to cause flooding throughout the affected region.
According to the Washington Post, strong winds and precipitation have the potential to cause catastrophes, despite the expected loss of strength in the continent. That was what happened last year, during the passage of Hurricane Harvey. Florence will, in any case, be the most intense storm to hit Hurricane Hugo in 1989, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Following the catastrophe caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the United States began to work harder to prevent major disasters each time one of these phenomena approaches its coast. Katrina has killed 1,800 people and destroyed the city of New Orleans in the American South.
This time, North Carolina authorities have engaged in the removal of more than 1.5 million people living on the coast of the state - the first to be hit by Florence. In Virginia, 250,000 people were ordered to leave their homes. The South Carolina government is also issuing this determination to thousands of families.
The entire population of the region is within the reach of Fema alerts by radio, television and cell phones and has received recommendations. According to The New York Times, about 3 million customers of Duke Energy, the largest electricity provider in the states of North Carolina and South Carolina, are expected to run out of power. Full restoration of the supply may take weeks.
Four states have already declared an emergency, which gives them access to federal funds to prevent disasters. From the International Space Station, astronauts captured images of Florence and posted them on Twitter.
"See, America. Hurricane Florence is so huge that we could only capture (its image) with a wide-angle lens from here at the space station, 400 kilometers above the (hurricane's) eye, "German Alexander Gerst said. "Get ready, east coast. This is a nightmare coming at you. "
