Mandatory evacuations ordered for the Outer Banks in advance of Hurricane Florence

Visible satellite image of a strengthening hurricane Florence early Monday morning. (NOAA)

1:00PM: Florence has exploded into a Category 4 hurricane with 130mph winds as of 12:30pm.

Dare County Emergency Management announced at 10am Monday, September 10, that a mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Hatteras Island effective at noon today. The evacuation will be expanded to the northern beaches including Nags Head and Kitty Hawk on Tuesday at 7am. All tourists and residents are urged to evacuate immediately in advance of a strengthening hurricane Florence. Tropical storm force winds and dangerous surf may arrive as early as Wednesday afternoon. Pounding surf is already lapping at the dunes along the Outer Banks.

Early Monday morning, Florence was located 625 miles southeast of Bermuda, moving northwest at 9 mph. The storm is rapidly deepening at this time, with winds of 105mph. Forecasters anticipate tht Florence will become a category 4 storm prior to landfall somewhere along the North Carolina coast by Thursday. There is still some uncertainty in the track and strength of Florence, but it is becoming more certain that the Carolinas will have significant impacts from this storm.