CLEVELAND, Ohio - As part of a new ad buy, Mike DeWine, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, purchased air time on The Weather Channel right as Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall in the Carolinas.

DeWine purchased more than $10,000 of ad time on The Weather Channel - good for 960 individual commercials - on Tuesday. The ads will run from Sept. 12-17. Florence is expected to make landfall Sept. 13.

DeWine's advertisements are sure to reach more voters as viewers tune in to watch the wall-to-wall coverage of the hurricane. John Goodwin, vice president of communications and head of marketing for The Weather Channel, said viewership increases dramatically when they are covering natural disasters.

"During Hurricane Harvey last year, we were the most watched cable network in the country," Goodwin said. "In times of severe weather, Americans around the country tune in to our in-depth, around-the-clock coverage to receive potentially life-saving information. Not only do those in the projected path watch to prepare themselves, people around the country watch as they worry about family, friends, loved ones or places they have formally lived or visited."

DeWine campaign spokesman Josh Eck said DeWine was not targeting hurricane viewership and the ad placement was part of a larger cable buy.

"There is no targeting in that or strategy in that," Eck said. "It's a pretty large cable buy, so it's a lot of stations. It is in there, but it's just in the package of stations we bought."

Democratic governor candidate Richard Cordray will also have advertising on the Weather Channel running during the hurricane as part of an ad purchase last month.

Forecasters are predicting Florence will be massive and have a substantial impact on the seaboard in North Carolina and South Carolina. More than 1 million people have been ordered to evacuate from the coast.

The National Hurricane Center warned a "life-threatening storm surge" is possible.