and tropical storm force winds extent nearly 200 miles out from the center. florence is forecast to slow down as it approaches the coast. so even today as we see outer rain bands from florence move into the outer banks of north caroli carolina, landfall is not expected for another 36 hours some time friday afternoon, friday evening or even early saturday morning. this slow moving very large hurricane will bring a long-term extreme rain, storm surge and hurricane force wind threat to eastern north carolina and south carolina into the weekend. in north carolina, we re particularly concerned about the pamilco sound and the noose rivers where 12 to 15 feet storm surge is forecast. 6 to 9 feet of storm surge are forecast. and several astronomical high tide cycles.
you need to get out if you re below that level. thank you very much. so as chad just said, gordon is expected to make landfall tonight as a category 1 hurricane. how is the gulf coast preparing? let s get to cnn s jennifer gray, she is life in gulf port, mississippi, with more where the storm surge i know you re keeping an eye on it. what are you seeing, jennifer? reporter: yeah, alisyn. the storm surge is the biggest concern for people here in gulf port and all along the mississippi/alabama coasts. we are here at the gulf port marina where all of the boats have been asked to get out of the water by 2:00 p.m. this morning. in fact, just in the past 30 seconds or so we saw some people walking by. everyone here trying to get their boats out while they can. if they don t, of course, there will be a penalty for them. so 2 to 4 feet storm surge, 3 to 5. that s enough for these boats to go over the dock and start banging together. that s why they want the boats out of the water. 4 to
this is not 20 feet storm surge from katrina. this is a surge to do a lot of damage to the areas there that were hit hard with ivan, dauphin island and biloxi and gulfport. you will get the surge. it is the water that kills you. you have to get away from the water. if you are under this 5, 7, 9 feet. get away. get out of there. guys, back to you. chad, you make a good point. path we see on the earlier map for the center of the storm. the worst of the storm. the impact will be broad. we ll talk about that all day. chad, thanks so much. let s go to cnn s ryan young in mobile, alabama. ryan, how is alabama prepared? reporter: christi and victor, i m glad we have chad. a lot of times you have the conversations the day before the storm and standing outside like this. a beautiful day here. you can see the ships being built here. we re at the port. the port will be closed in the
pressure. that means the storm may soon still intensify. here is the hurricane warnings from biloxi from pensacola to new orleans proper. hurricane conditions will occur in the next 24 hours. it goes all the way up to birmingham and montgomery and atlanta. you will all see damaging winds with the storm system. 5 to 9 feet storm surge. victor, pay attention. this is for you. sunday and saturday night. 10:00 tonight making landfall. it turns to the right. it doesn t go directly slidell or new orleans proper. it turns to the right and makes impact close to biloxi at 109-mile-an-hour gusts. that say serious storm. you think about it will hit land in new orleans. there is not much land in the parish. it will not lose intensity. what does it mean here? what does an 80-mile-an-hour storm truly look like?
you know when you have the hurricanes hitting the u.s., you have people having the conversation. especially in the coastal cities. no different here from the 5 to 9 feet storm surge. people are watching and and looking for precautions. they want to be ready. you talk about the mayor and how they have the storm drains. they cleared those. they made sure heavy equipment is positioned in specific areas. no shelters are open just yet. the port behind me will close this morning. a carnival cruise line was supposed to come to port today. that is not allowed to come to port today. they want to shut this down ahead of the storm. the airport will close at 4:00. you have impact when it comes to people. as we drove through downtown, we saw the low lying areas. sand bags out front. they wanted to be prepared. this city doesn t have the history of flooding. you know that people still have the conversation about the storm surge. they are worried about the heavy wind. the tornado possibilities.