Hurricane Florence can be seen making its way towards the east coast of America in a new satellite video released by Nasa.

Over 1.7 million people in the Carolinas and Virginia have been warned to prepare for the storm as it approaches the coast.

The hurricane is likely to bring “life-threatening, catastrophic flash flooding and significant river flooding” when it sweeps in on Thursday and Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

Donald Tump has declared states of emergency for North and South Carolina and Virginia, saying the US government is “absolutely, totally prepared” for Florence.

At 8am local time on Wednesday, the “monster” storm was centred 530 miles south east of Cape Fear, approaching the coast of North Carolina at 17mph.

The National Hurricane Centre said it was a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm, but was expected to keep drawing energy from the warm water and intensify to near Category 5, which means winds of 157mph or higher.