WILMINGTON, NC – Hurricane Florence was pounding the Carolinas as it made landfall off the U.S. East Coast Friday morning.
The Category 1 storm officially made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, shortly before 7:45 a.m.
News 6's Erik Sandoval was live in Wilmington shortly before the storm made landfall. Strong winds and heavy rainfall had already left tens of thousands of residents without power.
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The storm brought life-threatening storm surge and hurricane strength winds. Before Florence made landfall Friday morning, forecasters said "catastrophic" freshwater flooding was expected over portions of the Carolinas as it inched closer to the U.S. East Coast.
After the slow-moving storm officially made landfall, it continued dumping heavy rain over parts of North Carolina.
At 2 p.m., Florence had just barely Category 1 hurricane strength, with top sustained winds of 75 mph.
The storm was centered about 35 miles west-southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina, and about 35 miles east-northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was crawling west at 5 mph.
The National Hurricane Center said Florence was forecast to keep moving farther inland across the Carolinas through the weekend before turning toward the central Appalachian Mountains early next week.
Get a live look at the storm and its impacts using one of the live cameras on the map below.
Point to a locator along the coast and link to the live camera at that location.
South Carolina Department of Transportation (traffic map and cameras)
If the interactive map is not working for you, here are some links:
- Carolina Beach, North Carolina (Selection of cameras)
Stay with News 6 and ClickOrlando,com for the latest on the storm.