The storm is expected to hit North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia late Sept. 13 or early Sept 14.
While mandatory evacuation orders have been ordered in coastal areas, those who are choosing to stay or are in vulnerable locations near the coast have been preparing for the storm.
Already, grocery stores are facing a shortage of bottled water as residents prepare for the storm’s arrival.
A Home Depot employee in Wilmington, N.C., told CNN that the store was completely out of water, plywood, generators, flashlights, propane, batteries and 5-gal gas cans.
Not surprising, but this is the bottled water situation at a Walmart in Morrisville, NC outside Raleigh, about 160 miles inland.
Plenty of Perrier though!
However, Jennifer Frost, a spokesperson for Charlotte (N.C.) Water, told the Charlotte Observer that residents using city water faced little risk of disruption to service.
“Everything is set and ready to go.” Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn agreed with Charlotte Water’s statement, saying in a tweet: If you are on city water there is no reason to buy bottled water.
Our system is reliable and well prepared.
It is designed to operate during and after the storm.

Sonic Drive-in, 527 W Beauregard Ave., remains open, but is only selling bottled water and food.
Sonic Drive-in, 3311 Sherwood Way, remains open, but is only selling bottled water and food.
Sonic Drive-in, 3410 Knickerbocker Road, remains open, but is only selling bottled water and food.
It is also using bottled water for any water needs, and selling canned drinks and bottled water.
It is also using bottled water for any water needs, and selling canned drinks and bottled water.
They are selling only bottled water.
The Pit BBQ, 2330 Sherwood Way, is using boiled water and is not selling fountain drinks or tea.
They are also not selling drinks besides bottled water.
It does have bottled water.
The cooking and cleaning water is boiled, and the bathrooms are good to use.

The Food Lion grocery store on Garrison Boulevard in Gastonia is one of many that have had their bottled water supplies raided.
[Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette] Containers of water have flown off the shelves at area grocery stores this week due to fear of Hurricane Florence’s approaching menace.
But if you’re on the municipal water system that serves about half of Gaston County’s residents, you’re better off spending your water money on provisions such as food or batteries.
“There probably are folks who are customers of ours who are buying bottled water unnecessarily,” said Joe Albright, public utilities director for the city of Gastonia, who also oversees the entity known as Two Rivers Utilities.
“We serve almost (every city) in the county with the exception of Cherryville and Mount Holly.” A loss of power would compromise Gastonia’s ability to continue sending clean, treated water out to all its customers.
“We have generators on site at all our water treatment plants and major facilities,” said Albright.
“They also double in the summer as peak generators.
The benefit of that is that they operate regularly and they are all well maintained.
But if you get service through Two Rivers, he said access to a clean water supply in the coming days should be the least of your concerns.
“We occasionally will get phone calls from customers asking that question,” he said.

The store does have batteries and ice, Flowers said.
The BI-LO on Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce still has 24-packs of water bottles and gallon-size containers of water, said Mary Stewart, a BI-LO employee who works in customer service.
protected by reCAPTCHA Privacy – Terms Privacy – Terms Stewart said she has seen an influx of customers buying batteries and water from the store.
Beer sales are up as well.
“A lot of people have a few days off.” The Publix on Gervais Street just received a shipment and now has three pallets of bottled water, a customer service employee told The State.
The store also has D and C batteries.
The Publix on Rosewood Drive also has bottled water and batteries, according to a customer service employee.
Dollar Tree on Rosewood Drive had packs of water bottles and jugs of water on Tuesday morning.
However, some of the shelves were empty.
Pops on Assembly Street was out of water Tuesday morning, but manager Tiffany Tillman said she expects another shipment sometime Tuesday.

If you still haven’t purchased any bottles yet, there is still time to do so.
protected by reCAPTCHA Privacy – Terms Privacy – Terms Stores have listed phone numbers online or in phone books.
Read More Hurricane Florence: Here’s what forecasters say the Grand Strand can expect The Food Lion on U.S. 501 in Myrtle Beach still has some water, according to a store representative, but supplies are running out fast.
The other Food Lion on U.S. 501 outside of Conway said it still has plenty of water.
Read More Here’s what’s closed in the Myrtle Beach area as Hurricane Florence approaches There is still plenty of bottled water left in the Grand Strand, but there are other options if you get caught in the storm unprepared.
In addition to bottled water, fill up empty bottles or vessels with tap water in advance too.
Read More What to put in your hurricane emergency kit, and what food and drink to stockpile Stores also sell water purification kits, but do research on the product before you buy to know what it filters and how effective it is at removing contaminants..
Then bring the contaminated water to a rolling boil for a minute and let it rest.
If it is still murky or you have any doubts, boil it again.
Or, again, you could just buy bottled water while there is still time.

Do you really need to buy bottled water this week in Charlotte?
Folks sure seem to think so with Hurricane Florence approaching.
Twitter was dotted Monday with reports of water being sold out at grocery stores in South End, on Park Road, in Ballantyne.
No one covers what is happening in our community better than we do.
And with a digital subscription, you’ll never miss a local story.
Stop.
This, from Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn: If you are on city water there is no reason to buy bottled water.
Our system is reliable and well prepared.
It is designed to operate during and after the storm.
(And psst: Store-bought bottles are not safer than tap water, anyway.)

SINGAPORE – A batch of the Guang Li Liang bottled drinking water has been recalled by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) after a common environmental bacteria was detected in the product.
In a statement on Saturday evening (Sept 8), the AVA said the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, which can be found in faeces and sewage, was found in the water during routine sampling.
While consumption of products contaminated with this bacteria can cause a range of infections, it rarely causes illness in healthy individuals, AVA added.
The bacteria can multiply in water environments and also on the surface of suitable organic materials in contact with water.
The agency has ordered the importer, BSY Power of Light Trading, to recall the affected batch with the number 18228.
The expiry date for the affected products are displayed as either 040820, 260820, 290820.
The product is imported from Malaysia.
Consumers who have the affected products are advised not to consume them and those who feel unwell after consuming it should seek medical attention.
Consumers with queries can also contact the importer via phone on 9756-8786, or e-mail enquiries@bsytrading.com.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told Vivid Water Ltd – which stated ‘1 million boxes on 1 truck compared to 58 trucks needed to transport 1 million plastic bottles’ on its website for its Vivid Water In A Box brand – it can no longer make the claim as it failed to substantiate it when asked.
The ASA also found that the company could not substantiate the implication there was a health risk from PET bottles – a claim that it said was inferred by the statement ‘no PET no health threat from leaching’.
“We understood that the claim was based on information Vivid Water received from an email from the carton industry trade body.
​ "In the absence of such evidence, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated, and was therefore misleading.”​ PET health threat?​ Text on waterinabox.co.uk’s website stated “our box does not contain PET so there is no health threat from leaching”.
Vivid Water said its ad did not claim that PET leached into bottled water, but rather that PET leaching would not occur with their carton packaged water because it was made from polymer that was not PET-based.
The company provided an email it had received from the carton manufacturer, which stated that their cartons were not made from PET, but from polyethylene.
The ASA said that consumers would interpret the phrase to mean that plastic packaging for bottled water presented health risks compared to carton based packaging.
Neither did an email from the carton manufacturer reference or contain evidence that PET packaging carried health risks.
The ASA said: “Because we had not seen evidence that PET bottled water presented health risks, we concluded that the claim “No PET no health threat from leaching” had not been substantiated and was misleading”.​ Vivid has now removed the reference to PET from its website, stating instead that, with regards to its boxes, ‘There is no health threat from leaching’.
Editor’s comment With consumers increasingly concerned about plastic waste, alternative water packaging formats have been clamouring to present themselves as more sustainable formats.

Officials in Iredell County also urged preparedness because of the uncertainty of the storm.
Hurricane #Florence is not just a threat to the coast.
If Florence makes landfall in South Carolina around Charleston or Myrtle Beach, the projected path would bring it close to Iredell County.
If Florence blows more to the north and hits Wilmington or other North Carolina shores, it’s less likely that Iredell County will see Florence’s full impact, although rain and wind are likely, Smyre said.
“I was here for Hugo,” Lloyd said as he loaded up three cases of water into his truck.
National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham warned that Florence was forecast to linger over the Carolinas once it reaches shore.
Its center will move between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday and approach the coast of South Carolina or North Carolina on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.
"I’ve been doing this since 1983," Roberts said as he completed an order for another 18-wheeler full of supplies.
"I’m telling them to go inland, but I’m worried about the rain and tornadoes, too," Roberts said.
In announcing his evacuation order, South Carolina Gov.

The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and a group of leading bottled water and soft drink manufacturers have launched a report at the House of Commons, which aims to eliminate plastic packaging waste from the bottled water and soft drinks value chain by 2030.
Developed collaboratively by the industry and its stakeholders, the report, the first of its kind, sets out key actions and aspirations to make eliminating plastic packaging waste a strategic priority.
Points covered include that producers need to commit to all bottled water and soft drinks packaging to be made from 100 per cent recyclable or reusable material and aim for at least 70 per cent recycled material by 2025.
The report also says producers and Government will investigate the optimal material of the future for bottled water and soft drinks that eliminates plastic waste while ensuring the lowest overall environmental impact.
Producers and Government will undertake research into consumer behaviour to support recycling ambitions towards achieving a ‘circular economy’ for bottled water and soft drinks packaging according to the report and the Government will also create a consistent nationwide recycling system.
The report was developed with input from the Future of Plastic Packaging Working Group and members of the Natural Hydration Council.
“Our members, along with Lucozade Ribena Suntory, commissioned CISL to help us create a collaborative roadmap to eliminate plastic packaging waste from the bottled water and soft drinks sectors,” added Kinvara Carey, General Manager at the Natural Hydration Council.
“It will be challenging but it is our duty as responsible organisations to deliver our products to people in the most sustainable way possible.
It needs to be easy for people to dispose of all packaging responsibly, and with the confidence it will not go to landfill waste or worse, escape into the natural environment.”