STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED AS HURRICANE FLORENCE APPROACHES THE US

Florence, the initial category four hurricane has been downgraded to a category 2 as it makes landfall on the East Coast of America and three states have been declared a state of emergency.

Navy Ships are getting ready to sail out of its path as residents begin bracing themselves for potentially the biggest hurricane in the US since Hurricane Harvey last year.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said: "All indications are that Florence will be an extremely dangerous category four hurricane while it moves over the western Atlantic toward the southeastern United States, there is an increased risk of two life-threatening impacts from Florence: storm surge from the coast and freshwater flooding from a prolonged heavy rainfall inland possibly starting on Thursday."

Hurricane Florence has dropped from 140mph winds to 115mph but is currently on the coast of North Carolina, the storm's remaining path is still not 100% known but residents have started stockpiling plywood to board up windows and doors and water and other supplies. "Literally, they are filling buggies full of water, shopping carts full of water," a Walmart manager told local media in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Two other tropical storms - Isaac and Olivia - have also been in the vicinity this week, with the National Weather Service estimates that some 10.15 million people lived in areas under either hurricane or tropical storm warnings.