Hurricane Florence about to make landfall

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- On Thursday night, the beginning of what's expected to be catastrophic flooding for parts of the Carolinas got underway as Hurricane Florence, stretching 500 miles across, came ever closer to making landfall.

The storm is expected to dump as much as 40 inches of rain and pummel parts of the coast with 13 foot storm surges.

At this point, authorities are telling anyone who stayed behind to just shelter in place because these conditions are not letting up and will only intensify Thursday night into Friday morning, when the storm is expected to make landfall.