Florence becomes a hurricane, takes aim at U.S. Southeast

ATLANTA — Tropical Storm Florence turned into a hurricane Sunday morning and swirled toward the U.S. for what forecasters said could be a direct hit on the Southeast by the end of the week.

The storm’s sustained winds reached 75 mph, just over the threshold for a hurricane, as it made its way across the Atlantic, about 750 miles southeast of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west at 6 mph.

The Miami-based center said that it was still too early to predict the hurricane’s exact path but that a huge coastal area from South Carolina to the mid-Atlantic region should prepare for a major strike late in the week.

“All indications are that Florence will be an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane while it moves over the western Atlantic toward the southeastern United States,” the hurricane center said. A Category 4 storm packs winds of 130 mph or more and has the potential for catastrophic damage.

The governors of North and South Carolina and Virginia declared states of emergency to give them time to prepare, and the Navy said ships in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area would leave port for their own safety.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Sunday that coastal and inland residents alike need to get ready for potentially heavy rainfall and flooding. Cooper urged residents to “review your emergency plans and gather your supplies now.”

The South Carolina Emergency Management Division tweeted Sunday that officials there are “preparing for the possibility of a large-scale disaster.”

The storm brings with it an increasing risk of two life-threatening impacts: storm surge along the coast and freshwater flooding from prolonged rains, the hurricane center said.

Dangerous swells generated by Florence affected Bermuda and have begun to reach parts of the Eastern Seaboard.

The National Weather Center warned of dangerous rip currents in popular tourist areas like Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks. Advisories warning of dangerous beach conditions or coastal flooding were in effect for parts of New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.