Hurricane Florence has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, but that doesn’t mean it is not dangerous. In a tweet, the National Hurricane Center urged people to “not focus on the wind speed category,” as the storm poses serious threats in the form of flash flooding, storm surges, and prolonged river flooding.
Images from the International Space Station underscore the threat level: Current ISS resident astronaut Alexander Gerst tweeted a few photos of the whirling nightmare, noting that photographing the storm was difficult, because it is so massive that they couldn’t capture the entire thing without using a “super wide-angle lens.” If you’re in an evacuation zone and haven’t left yet, grab your emergency kit and make a break for it.
Watch out, America! #HurricaneFlorence is so enormous, we could only capture her with a super wide-angle lens from the @Space_Station, 400 km directly above the eye. Get prepared on the East Coast, this is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you. #Horizons pic.twitter.com/ovZozsncfh
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) September 12, 2018
Cameras outside the space station captured new views of a somewhat weakened #HurricaneFlorence at 6:56 a.m. EDT Sept. 13 as it neared the U.S. Eastern seaboard. According to the National Hurricane Center, Florence is moving northwest with winds of 110 miles an hour. pic.twitter.com/vw2yxrhTmZ
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) September 13, 2018
#HurricaneFlorence this morning with Cape Hatteras #NorthCarolina in the foreground. The crew of @Space_Station is thinking of those who will be affected. pic.twitter.com/XsQ7Zwurfa
— Ricky Arnold (@astro_ricky) September 12, 2018
Ever stared down the gaping eye of a category 4 hurricane? It's chilling, even from space. #HurricaneFlorence #Horizons https://t.co/RdDmGgduou pic.twitter.com/2TlMghY4OL
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) September 12, 2018