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Hurricane Florence: Residents prepare for storm's punch

Catch up with NBC News Clone on today's hot topic: Hurricane Florence Residents Prepare Storm S Punch N909006 - Breaking News | NBC News Clone. Our editorial team reformatted this story for clarity and speed.

Florence could batter parts of coastal North and South Carolina with hurricane conditions for 24 hours or more.

Heavy surf pounds the Avalon Fishing Pier in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on Sept. 13.

Hurricane Florence could bring peak wind gusts at over 100 mph and substantial storm surges of up to 13 feet.

—Gerry Broome / AP

Image: Carolinas Prepare As Hurricane Florence Approaches As Category 4 Storm

Doug Lewis, left, and Chris Williams cover the windows of Knuckleheads bar on Sept. 12 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

About 1.7 million people in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia have been told to evacuate.

—Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Stand-up paddle surfer Travis Storey, center, rides a wave from the approaching Hurricane Florence on the south beach of Tybee Island, Georgia.

—Stephen B. Morton / AP

Image: Preparations for Hurricane Florence

Evacuees take shelter at a school in Burgaw, North Carolina.

—Caitlin Penna / EPA

Tim Avery pulls up a board to the third floor of a home in Emerald Isle, North Carolina.

—Tom Copeland / AP

Marge Brown, 65, says goodbye to her father, George Brown, 90, before he is evacuated from a healthcare home in Morehead City, North Carolina.

"I'd like to stay and see what happens. I'm 90 plus," said Brown, a WWII veteran who says he's survived a plane crash and severe burns from a laboratory fire where he once worked.

Evacuate or stay? For nursing homes in storm's path, the decision isn't easy

—David Goldman / AP

Sandbags surround homes on North Topsail Beach, North Carolina.

—Chuck Burton / AP

The bread shelves are bare in a grocery store in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

—Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Image: Hurricane Florence Bears Down on U.S. East Coast

Hurricane Florence churns over the Atlantic Ocean in this view from the International Space Station.

—Alexander Gerst / ESA / NASA via Getty Images

The passenger cars are removed from the Sky Wheel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

—Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Image: Hurricane Florence to strike East Coast of United States

Bobby Vorn, top left, and Butch Beaudry prepare to attach wooden planks over the windows of an oceanfront home in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

—Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

Beachgoers walk along the boardwalk in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

—David Goldman / AP

Johnny Mercer's Fishing Pier juts into the Atlantic Ocean at sunrise on Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

—Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

Image: A man sweeps the entrance of a boarded up store before Hurricane Florence comes ashore in Carolina Beach

A man sweeps the entrance of a boarded-up store in Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

—Carlo Allegri / Reuters

People photograph the Atlantic Ocean at sunrise in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

—Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

Mark Lewis, left, conservator, and Alisa Reynolds, associate registrar, secure the painting "The Shoppers" by William James Glackens at the Chrysler Museum of Art on Sept. 11 in Norfolk, Virginia.

As Hurricane Florence approached, staff members pulled priceless paintings off the walls near windows and skylights. Later, the entrance to the museum will be sandbagged.

—The' N. Pham / The Virginian-Pilot via AP

Amanda Glaze, left, and Brett Sorbello say goodbye to Hi-Ho Silver outside the Humane Society in Portsmouth, Virginia, as cats and dogs were relocated in preparation for Hurricane Florence.

—L. Todd Spencer / The Virginian-Pilot via AP