Storm surge threatens most of the Southeast coast.

Hurricane Dorian, which caused widespread devastation in the Bahamas, was churning on Wednesday off the Atlantic coast, and residents along hundreds of miles of shoreline were warned of its potential for life-threatening storm surge and dangerous winds.

[For the latest updates on Friday, read our Hurricane Dorian live briefing here.]

The hurricane, with winds of 110 miles an hour, was about 130 miles south of Charleston, S.C., and 255 miles southwest of Wilmington, N.C., and moving slowly to the northwest at 8 m.p.h., according to the National Hurricane Center’s advisory at 8 p.m.

A storm surge warning had earlier been extended to Poquoson, Va., including Hampton Roads.

[Bahamian descendants in Miami are helping the storm-battered nation.]

Meteorologists warned residents of shore communities from Daytona Beach, Fla., to Virginia that they faced “a danger of life-threatening inundation from rising water” within the next 36 hours. In some parts of the Carolinas, the storm surge could reach five to eight feet.