(Follow along here for live updates on Friday’s storm.)

A sprawling winter storm barreled toward the Atlantic Coast on Thursday and was expected to pound most of it with a potent mix of rain, snow, gusty winds and storm surge that forecasters warn could flood neighborhoods, knock out power and destroy homes.

“Take this storm seriously!” the National Weather Service’s Boston branch warned on Twitter late Thursday afternoon. “This is a LIFE & DEATH situation for those living along the coast.”

The effects of the nor’easter, which could linger through Saturday or beyond, are expected to stretch as far south as Georgia and South Carolina, all the way north to Maine. Weather officials say 10 inches of snow — or perhaps more — could blanket parts of New York; some areas of New England could get three to four inches of rain; and some coastal towns are expected to be hit with winds of 50 miles per hour or more.

Alerts have been issued up and down the coast, but Kim Buttrick, a meteorologist at the Weather Service’s office in Taunton, Mass., said the state’s east coast — from Cape Ann south to Cape Cod and Nantucket — was expected to experience some of the most severe flooding.