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People are being warned they could lose power and face flooding, as the storm reaches sustained wind speeds of 140mph. Evacuations have begun in North and South Carolina ahead of the arrival of a potentially catastrophic category four storm. Hurricane Florence is closing in on the east coast of the US with sustained wind speeds of 140mph, with residents warned that it could be "extremely dangerous" by the National Hurricane Centre (NHC). Supermarket shelves have been stripped and cars stocked up with petrol as thousands prepare to flee from its path, which is expected to reach the coast of one or both of the states on Thursday. It will move over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday, by which time forecasters believe it could be a category five storm. The first effects are already being seen, with rip currents having roared into beaches, causing seawater to flow over a state highway. NHC director Ken Graham said the storm is expected to linger over North and South Carolina - where one million people have been told to evacuate - once it reaches shore. People well inland have been warned they could lose power and face flooding. Mr Graham said: "It's not just the coast. When you stall a system like this and it moves real slow, some of that rainfall can extend well away from the centre." Half a dozen nuclear power plants could find themselves in the path of the storm, as could pits holding industrial waste. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency and said officials were "preparing for the potential of historic, catastrophic and life-threatening flooding". Mayor of Richmond in Virginia, Levat Stoney, has also declared a state of emergency and has urged residents to gather non-perishable food, water, torches, and batteries. As for fuel, one petrol station owner in Wilmington, North Carolina, told the Reuters news agency she had seen triple the usual number of customers as locals are "getting frantic" over the potential impact of the storm. President Donald Trump - who was criticised for his response to the deadly Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year - has tweeted that the government "stands by, ready to assist 24/7". In a further post, he said he had been told that Florence was "one of the worst storms to hit the east coast in many years" and was "looking like a direct hit on North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia".

The massive floater is intended to scoop up plastic waste but critics worry that it might scoop up some of the marine life too. A controversial giant plastic collector will launch into the Pacific Ocean today in an attempt to tackle one of the greatest blights on the planet. The high-profile launch of The Ocean Cleanup, the brainchild of a 24-year-old Dutch inventor, is the biggest test yet of its boast that it can help solve the problem of the great Pacific 'garbage patch'. Between California and Hawaii, the patch, also known as a gyre, is three times the size of France and contains as many as two trillion pieces of plastic waste. It is believed to be the largest of five huge gyres in the world's oceans. The Ocean Cleanup system comprises a 600-metre long boom, called a floater, with a skirt attached. Pulled into a horseshoe shape, it is hoped it will act as an artificial coastline and scoop up the plastic waste. Its creators say it could remove half of the waste in the garbage patch within five years. Using traditional methods, it is said, would take thousands of years. But the project and its creator Boyan Slat have been criticised for targeting just the tiny percentage of plastic waste that sits near the surface of the ocean. There are also concerns marine life could become caught up in the system. And many in the ocean science community says it sends the wrong message about solving the problem of plastic waste. Eben Schwartz, who runs the marine debris programme for the California Coastal Commission, said it would be "fantastic" if the project succeeded. But he added: "The danger from this project is that it can become a distraction to the important work we need to do on land to stop the trash from entering the ocean in the first place. "Eighty percent of the plastic and trash that enters the world's oceans starts on land and if we can prevent it or better yet reduce it first we have a much better chance of reducing the harm that this stuff does when it's out in the ocean." But at The Ocean Cleanup assembly yard on the San Francisco Bay, chief executive Lonneke Holiernoek defended the project. She said the team had been willing to listen and share information. "We've developed the system with minimum negative impacts in mind. "We do this because we want to improve the environment. "We love marine life and we want to save it from the harmful plastic that's out there. "All of the design we've done is with that in mind." After its launch the system will pass under the Golden Gate Bridge and head for trials some 250 miles out into the Pacific. If all goes to plan, it will then travel the 1,000 miles to the garbage patch. Results are expected by the end of the year and the ocean science community will be watching closely.