Florence just made landfall on Wrightsville Beach at 7:15 am at 958 millibars, a couple of miles east of downtown Wilmington, NC, as a strong Cat 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds, moving quite slowly (~5 mph) and now heading west and starting to bend SW towards Myrtle Beach. Florence is forecast to bend SW an go inland just N of Myrtle Beach, but it's still possible the storm parallels the coast more down to Myrtle Beach, remaining a hurricane instead of starting to weaken by being over land.
Reports of major storm surge issues (over 6 feet) to the NE of the track, i.e., from Morehead City to Cape Hatteras, including Pamlico Sound and towns on the inland part of the Sound, like New Bern and plenty of gusts in the 90-100 mph range all over the area. Rainfall amounts are already 8-15" in most locations along the coast and up to 50 miles inland and serious flooding is underway from both the surge and the rainfall. Widespread 10-20" rains and locally up to 30+" rains are expected and even 5-10" rains are expected well inland in northern SC and much of NC. Widespread power outages have already occurred.
Below is the latest from the 7 am update, as well as the updated track map. The track shows Florence moving slowly inland or along the coast through Saturday morning, then moving slowly westward towards Columbia SC by Sunday morning, the finally accelerating towards Knoxville, TN by Monday morning, after which the worst will be over with a fast moving storm heading NE and up the Appalachians with just moderate rainfall.
Hurricane Florence Tropical Cyclone Update
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL062018
705 AM EDT Fri Sep 14 2018
...700 AM POSITION UPDATE...
...CENTER OF THE EYE OF HURRICANE FLORENCE ABOUT TO MAKE LANDFALL
NEAR WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH NORTH CAROLINA...
Buoy 41064, operated by the Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring
Program (CORMP), which is located about 50 miles east of the center
of Florence's eye, recently reported a wind gust to 112 mph (180
km/h).
A Weatherbug site located at Cape Fear Community College recently
reported a wind gust to 100 mph (161 km/h), a report of a wind
gust of 91 mph (146 km/h) at the Wilmington Airport, and a NOAA
Ocean Service (NOS) observing site in Wrightsville Beach recently
reported a sustained wind of 60 mph (97 km/h) and a gust to 87 mph
(140 km/h). The NOS site also recently reported a pressure of 959.2
mb.
The water levels in Pamlico Sound and Emerald Isle remain elevated.
These waters are expected to rise as the tides come back in. A USGS
gauge in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, recently recorded 6.1 feet
above normal water levels.
SUMMARY OF 700 AM EDT...1100 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...34.2N 77.8W
ABOUT 5 MI...10 KM E OF WILMINGTON NORTH CAROLINA
ABOUT 70 MI...115 KM NE OF MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...90 MPH...150 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...W OR 280 DEGREES AT 6 MPH...9 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...958 MB...28.29 INCHES
Here's the updated total storm rainfall forecast, which includes rain that has already fallen. Note that the NHC has said there may be locations within the 20-30" swath that get up to 40"; the record rainfall ever in NC is 27" and the record rainfall ever in SC is 18". This is unprecedented rainfall, mostly due to the slow moving nature of Florence. Even well inland in SC/NC 10-15" of rain are expected, which will lead to major to catastrophic flooding, especially given how wet this year has been.