Hurricane Florence hit Carolina’s outer banks Thursday morning, hammering the area with rain and tropical-storm-force winds up to 73 mph.
“This is not going to be a glancing blow,” said Jeff Byard, FEMA’s associate administrator for response and recovery. “This is going to be a Mike Tyson punch to the Carolina coast.”
Storm surges are also predicted to be a devasting blow to the region. Experts say the storm surge could rise up to 13 feet — that’s water inundating homes up to the first-floor ceiling.
As people wavered about whether to evacuate, National Hurricane Center warned that “life-threatening storm surge and rainfall” were still expected.
