The outer bands of Hurricane Florence are lashing parts of the US East Coast.
Officials warn of life-threatening storm surges in both North and South Carolina as the hurricane moves towards land with maximum sustained wind speeds of 90mph (150 km/h).
More than 100,000 homes are already without power as weather conditions begin to worsen.
Officials have warned the storm has the potential to kill “a lot of people” amid risks of “catastrophic” flooding.
More than a million people along the coastlines of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have been ordered to evacuate.
Thousands had taken shelter in emergency facilities by Thursday night.
Photographs showed residents crowded into corridors with blankets on inflatable mattresses and mats.
Conditions deteriorated throughout Thursday as wind speeds gradually strengthened in coastal areas.
Some areas of North Carolina saw almost a foot of rain just a few hours, and footage showed sea levels begin to surge in land.
At 23:00 local time (03:00 GMT) the National Hurricane Centre said wind speeds had slightly lowered, making it a category one hurricane.
The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) says that despite the gradual lowering in wind strength, the storm remains extremely dangerous because of the high volume of rainfall and storm surges predicted.
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Trump says US under ‘no pressure’ for China trade deal
The US President Donald Trump said Washington is under “no pressure” to achieve a trade deal with China as the prospect of new tariffs loom.
The comments come amid reports the two sides could resume talks to stave off a third round of US tariffs.
China welcomed the offer of talks and said the two countries were discussing the details, according to reports.
The US has launched a trade war against China which could see all of its exports to the US subject to duties.
“We are under no pressure to make a deal with China, they are under pressure to make a deal with us,” Mr. Trump said in a tweet on Thursday.
“Our markets are surging, theirs are collapsing.”
The US and China have slapped tariffs on $50bn of one another’s goods this year in an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The tariffs are the latest Trump policy to challenge the free trade system which has prevailed for decades.
They are already affecting companies, particularly the automobile industry, and hurting economies.
Trump said last week he could move “very soon” to impose tariffs on an additional $200bn (£153bn) worth of products with taxes on another $267bn “ready to go on short notice.”
If both sets of tariffs go ahead it would mean virtually all of China’s US exports would be subject to new tariffs.
