Hurricane Florence Storm starts
Officials warn of life-threatening storm surges in both North and South Carolina as the hurricane moves towards land with maximum sustained wind speeds of 90mph (150 km/h).
State officials are bracing for the worst. A tattered American flag seen flying on a live surf camera at Frying Pan Tower in North Carolina is evidence of the strong wind gusts pounding the coast.
More than 100,000 homes are already without power as weather conditions begin to worsen.
Officials have warned the storm has the potential to kill "a lot of people" amid risks of "catastrophic" flooding.
More than 4 million people along the coastlines of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have been ordered to evacuate.
Even though Florence's winds weakened as it drew closer to land, dropping from a peak of 140 mph earlier in the week, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper maintained his warning.
"Don't relax, don't get complacent. Stay on guard. This is a powerful storm that can kill. Today the threat becomes a reality," Cooper said.
Some areas of North Carolina saw almost a foot of rain just a few hours, and footage showed sea levels begin to surge in land.
The NHC says that despite the gradual lowering in wind strength, the storm remains extremely dangerous because of the high volume of rainfall and storm surges predicted.