HURRICANE TRACKER: Florence Now Category 4; Means More Rain For Maryland

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- WJZ is tracking Hurricane Florence. Live blog updates below.

UPDATE: Sept. 10, 11 p.m.:

By Thursday, the hurricane will be making landfall in North Carolina as a category 4 storm with winds around 140 mph. Major devastation is likely, and a storm surge may exceed 15 feet, and flood miles inland.

Massive amounts of rain will again cause inland flooding as much as 10 to more than 25 inches of rain may fall there.

Further north, here in Maryland, look for a breezy and likely wet end to the week, but we should escape any serious damage as we are too far north of the storm center, based on current models.

Any shift further north would likely impact us with stronger winds and heavier rains, which would start later Thursday and extend into the weekend.

Please stay tuned for further updates as the storm approaches later this week.

Updated: Sept. 10, 12:54 p.m.: Florence has quickly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane.

When hurricane hunter investigated the Florence they found maximum sustained winds at 130 mph.

The severity of the threats for Maryland remain unclear, however it is likely we are going to see significant rainfall that could lead to flooding starting on Friday.

Rainfall totals will vary based on where Florence makes landfall.

But, so far 5 to 15 inches of rain is possible.

This is not good news considering how saturated our ground already is.

Stay with WJZ as we track the hurricane. Download the app. 

Original Post, Sept. 9, 5:18 p.m.: Florence certainly has our attention.

The Category 1 Hurricane is rapidly intensifying as it takes aim at the southeastern U.S.

As of Saturday evening, Florence's sustained winds were up to 85 mph.

It will likely intensify to a major hurricane on Monday evening.

On the forecast track, the center of Florence will move over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Bahamas Tuesday and Wednesday, and approach the southeastern coast of the United States on Thursday.

The latest models show a landfall over North Carolina on Friday morning but it's still very early to bank on that and there is still plenty of uncertainty.

The risk for life threatening impacts including storm surge and flooding is increasing for the southeast and here in Maryland, the main impact so far seems to be flooding from prolonged and heavy rain.

The National Hurricane Center advises everyone from South Carolina into the mid-Atlantic to stay aware so that's exactly what we are doing.

We'll keep you posted on air and right here at wjz.com.

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