HOLDEN BEACH, N.C. (Reuters) - More than 1.5 million people were ordered to evacuate their homes along the U.S. Atlantic coast as Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm and the most powerful to menace the Carolinas in nearly three decades, barreled in on Tuesday. Florence, packing winds of 140 miles per hour (220 kph), was expected to grow even stronger before making landfall on Thursday, mostly likely in southeastern North Carolina near the South Carolina border, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. "This storm is a monster," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at a news conference on Tuesday. "Florence is forecast to become a major hurricane this morning, and is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday," the hurricane center warned. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued an evacuation order for about 245,000 residents in flood-prone coastal areas beginning at 8 a.m. local time and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster ordered more than 1 million residents along his state's coastline to leave starting at noon on Tuesday. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said Sunday he was asking President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration in anticipation of “significant impacts not only on our state but the entire east coast.”

“Pretend, assume, presume that a major hurricane is going to hit right smack dab in the middle of South Carolina and is going to go way inshore,” McMaster said at a press conference.
Hurricane Florence regains strength to a category 4 major hurricane and is expected to threaten the East Coast of the United States near the Carolinas in the coming days, with the potential for a category 4 or 5 landfall with very large rainfall totals. Preparations are underway for evacuation of around 1 million coastal inhabitants of South Carolina.