(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Here’s what you need to know:

Carolinas brace for a storm

• More than a million residents and tourists are being urged to evacuate the shores of North and South Carolina, as Hurricane Florence gains muscle over the Atlantic Ocean and barrels toward the coast.

As of this morning, the center of the Category 4 storm was over the Atlantic Ocean, roughly halfway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to make landfall Thursday night. Follow the hurricane’s path, and our updates here.

• The North Carolina governor has requested a federal state of emergency, and his South Carolina counterpart said that two highways would be made one-way to help people leave. “We do not want to risk one South Carolina life in this hurricane,” he said.