Hurricane Florence makes landfall in U.S. North Carolina coast

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Florence on Friday morning made landfall in North Carolina coast as Category 1 storm, with gales and rains.

The eye of the storm reached Wrightsville Beach, several miles east of Wilmington, at around 7:15 a.m. eastern time (1215 GMT), with the estimated maximum wind of 150 km/h. It was expected to slowly move southwest into South Carolina before turning north, forecasters said.

Florence will dump 40 inches (101.6 cm) of rain in some parts of the Carolina coast, forecasters said.

More than 400,000 homes and businesses have lost power across North Carolina overnight, local media reported.