Hurrican Florence was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 90 mph Thursday night.
The National Hurricane Center said Florence was lashing the North Carolina coast with hurricane -force winds and a life-threatening storm surge. It said the threat of freshwater flooding will increase in coming hours and days from the storm's heavy rains.
The Miami-based center said in an update at 11 p.m. EDT Thursday that the storm's eye was about 50 miles south of Morehead, City, N.C. The core was about 60 miles east-southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina.
The storm is moving to the northwest at 90 mph.
Forecasters say the center of Florence is expected to move inland between Friday and Saturday.
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