Florence pummels the Carolinas

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Florence, according to his office.

The emergency declaration extends to all of Georgia’s 159 counties, Deal’s office said.

Georgia is the fifth state to declare a state of emergency ahead of the storm, joining Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Updated forecasts show Hurricane Florence pausing later this week just off North Carolina's coast before turning left. No part of Georgia is currently under a hurricane watch or warning, according to the latest National Hurricane Center forecast, although the state is in a potential track area for later this week.

President Trump this morning urged people in Georgia to get ready for the storm.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this post incorrectly said only three other states had declared states of emergency.

Susan Faulkenberry Panousis has ridden out storms on North Carolina’s Bald Head Island before — but Hurricane Florence will not be one of them.

“We have a hurricane plan that if it is over a [Category] 2, we leave,” she told CNN. “We got out of Dodge.” 

As she packed up what she could from her home on Tuesday night, she says police officers were going door to door telling people when the last ferry was and to leave the island.

Later that night, she left the island on one of those ferries. As she evacuated, she took photos of the empty Bald Head Island marina, which is normally full of boats.

The last ferry out left at 9:30 a.m. ET today.

"When that last ferry pulls out, it's very unnerving," she said.  "It's unnerving to see it pull away and know, 'That's the last chance I have of getting off this island.'"

People in the path of Hurricane Florence are boarding up their homes and businesses and leaving behind messages for the massive storm that's headed their way.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, a bar has boarded up its windows. The boards are painted over with the silhouettes of people, and the words "ILM Strong" -- a reference to the code for Wilmington International Airport.

The locally owned and operated tavern wanted to display a sign of strength for the community.

"As I write this I am surrounded by 20 hard core locals who are here expressing concern for one another and general consensus is most are staying to brave the storm for better or worse," one of the bar's owners told CNN in an Instagram message from the Tavern Law account. "People have been signing the board as they walk by."

In Rodanthe, North Carolina, on the Outer Banks, artist Randi O'Sullivan and her husband, Blake, evacuated their home on Tuesday morning along with their dog Bertha.

Before leaving, O'Sullivan painted the message "F off Flo!" on the plywood they used to protect their home that they've lived in for almost eight years.

See more.

Lifeguard towers have been taken down in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

Crews began the process yesterday. The goal was to create one less piece of debris in the storm, crews told CNN.

Hurricane Florence is forecast to pause late this week just off North Carolina's coast and turn left — a development that would still smash the Tar Heel State with life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and inundating rain while putting more of South Carolina in greater danger.

As Hurricane Florence barrels toward the US East Coast, several beach cams are ready to capture the monster storm and its impacts.

The storm isn't expected to make landfall until at least Friday, but most areas along the coast will see building surf today. There will be a more substantial swell into Thursday, too, Mark Willis with Surfline said.

Surfline is operating several beach cams off the coasts of the Carolinas.

EarthCam is also tracking Hurricane Florence's impact on the East Coast. You can watch their livestream here here.

Meanwhile, Explore.org has a camera at Frying Pan Tower in North Carolina. As of Wednesday morning, conditions looked clear, but that will surely change as Hurricane Florence moves closer to the coast.

Here's the Frying Pan livestream:

Christine Meinhold lives just outside of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with her seven rescue dogs. She has decided to stay put with all of them ahead of Hurricane Florence. 

Meinhold added: “I can’t abandon them. My car has over 205,000 miles on it and won't make it far. I can't imagine breaking down somewhere and putting them in danger.” 

She said she's boarding up her home as best as she can. She's "prepared for the worst and hoping for the best," she said.

Meinhold said that during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, she helped rescure animals from the floodwaters.

“I have two hurricane dogs from Matthew that I took in after they were pulled out of the water," she said. "One was so skinny, you can imagine my surprise when I got her home and she had six puppies. Didn’t know she was pregnant, she was so skinny. I found rescue for all six puppies."

As the US East Coast braces for Hurricane Florence, an even stronger super typhoon is barreling down on Southeast Asia, with Hong Kong and Macau square in its path.

It is powerful: Super Typhoon Mangkhut, known as Super Typhoon Ompong in the Philippines, is currently equivalent to a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, with winds of at least 252 kilometers per hour (157 mph). It's stronger than Florence, which is expected to cause massive flooding and devastation in the Carolinas.

It's getting stronger: Mangkhut has already swept past the US territory of Guam, in the western Pacific, where it caused flooding and power outages. The storm is expected to strengthen further in the next 24 to 48 hours, according to CNN Meteorologist Michael Guy, before it weakens slightly to a Category 4-equivalent storm as it approaches the the Philippines island of Luzon.

Even so, Guy said it will come "dangerously close to clipping the country," causing heavy rain and flooding in the island's north, where local authorities are preparing relief goods and security forces have been put on alert.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System said in total up to 43.3 million people could be affected by the storm in the Philippines and southern China.

Leah Van Buren Bolton, Jim Gregory, Mary Jackson and Robert Riker have never met. But they have at least two things in common.

All four live in mountainous areas hundreds of miles inland from the East Coast. And all have just offered their homes to some of the more than 1 million people facing mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Florence takes aim at the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

In recent days, Facebook groups such as Hurricane Florence 2018 and Hurricane Florence Lodging For Evacuees have hosted dozens of posts from people and organizations offering shelter to those fleeing the Category 4 storm.

"We've fled our share of hurricanes. And we know the cost of staying in a hotel and having to eat out can quickly add up at a time when anxiety, fear and uncertainty is high," Riker told CNN. He and his family live in Waynesville, North Carolina -- in the western part of the state -- and are opening their house to a couple or small family.

"We just want to offer some relief to someone who has greater worries going on in their life than I do. We're all in this life together. And we only have each other to rely on," he added.

Read CNN's Gianluca Mezzofiore's story to see how these four are opening their homes and businesses to the refugees.

European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst just tweeted out a couple of photos of Hurricane Florence, which were taken from the International Space Station.

The storm is so huge, they had to use a wide-angle lens to fit it all into one shot, he said.

"Get prepared on the East Coast, this is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you," he said.