Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina Friday at 7:15 a.m. local time (1115 GMT) as a Category 1 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

"Hurricane Florence is producing a life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions over portions of eastern North Carolina," the NHC tweeted late Thursday night.

According to the US National Weather Service, there are 5.25 million residents in areas under hurricane warnings or watches, and 4.9 million in places under tropical storm warnings or watches.