Forecasters say Hurricane Florence is still a dangerous storm, despite its winds weakening as it moves closer to the U.S. East Coast.
Florence was downgraded to a Category 2 storm late Wednesday. It's maximum sustained wind speeds were still measuring more than 100 mph as of early Thursday.
The storm is expected to make landfall somewhere over the Carolinas Thursday or Friday.
More than 10 million people in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina are under a storm watch or warning. Roughly one million people were ordered to evacuate their homes along the coast earlier this week.
The National Hurricane Center warned Thursday that Florence will still bring an increased risk of life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic flash flooding and dangerous winds to those states and the surrounding region.
In preparation for the storm, officials in five states and Washington, D.C. have all declared states of emergency.
Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.
