BREAKING NEWS – Hurricane Florence strengthened to a Category 4 storm today as it continued to rapidly intensify on its path toward the Carolinas and the Mid-Atlantic coast.

Up and down the coast, residents are rushing to ready emergency kits, map out escape routes and secure their homes in preparation for the onslaught of rain and wind the rapidly intensifying Hurricane Florence is expected to bring later this week.

The National Hurricane Center said around 12 p.m. today that Florence was rapidly strengthening into a major hurricane with sustained winds near 130 mph. It is about 580 miles southeast of Bermuda – or about 1,240 miles from Cape Fear, North Carolina.

It’s expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday.

Citizens along the Carolina coast and ones in extreme Eastern North and South Carolina should consider evacuations plans now and be prepared for this dangerous hurricane.

Florence is expected to make landfall in the Wilmington, North Carolina area sometime Thursday afternoon but the effects will be felt as early as Wednesday night. This track can shift to have landfall anywhere from Charleston, South Carolina to Virginia Beach, Virginia. Confidence is growing the landfall will be in Wilmington.

A Category 4 hurricane will have the same destructive force as Hurricane Katrina when it hit the Gulf Coast years ago and will cause catastrophic damage. Severe structural damage should be expected.

105.7 News will continue to provide morning stories on the track of Florence until it makes landfall for our readers who have family and friends in this area.