Hurricane Florence batters United States east coast

Hurricane Florence brought a storm surge of some 3 meters (10 feet) as it began battering the United States east coast early on Friday.

Coastal streets were inundated with ocean water, causing damage to dozens of homes and businesses, officials said. The US National Hurricane Center described how winds of up to 90 miles per hour (150 kilometres) were pummeling the state of North Carolina.

The Center downgraded Florence to a Category 1 hurricane, but warned that it still carried "very dangerous winds." "Just because the wind speed came down, the intensity of this storm came down ... please do not let your guard down," said Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), earlier on Thursday.

Given the storm's size and slow speed, officials warned that Florence could cause similar large-scale flood damage to that seen in the Houston area saw during Hurricane Harvey just over a year ago. "Inland flooding kills a lot of people, unfortunately, and that's what we're about to see," Long added.

Within hours of making landfall, officials in Onslow County—which includes the city of Jacksonville, reported "major structural damage to homes, businesses and institutions.

Nearly 2 million people evacuated

About 1.7 million people in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have been put under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders to avoid what emergency officials called a "once in a lifetime" storm.

Thousands of people have taken temporary shelter in converted schools and community centers, while those who have ignored orders have been warned that rescuers will not be able to reach them at the height of the storm.

North Carolina's Emergency Management tweeted that more than 1,54,000 homes were already without electricity by late Thursday. Duke Energy, a local power company, estimated that up to three million customers could lose their supply as a result of Florence.

On top of the potentially destructive hurricane, forecasters also put parts of North Carolina on tornado watch.

Deutsche Welle, or DW, is Germany's public international broadcaster