At least five people, are known to have died as Tropical Storm Florence struck North Carolina.
It made landfall as a category one hurricane on Friday night but was downgraded as it moved towards South Carolina.
Among the dead are a mother and her child from Wilmington who were struck when a tree fell on their house.
Locals say the intensity of the storm was something they couldn't have predicted. Neighbour adam Adam Sparks said: "We were stocking up. I was stocking up as well. But who can really prepare for something like this? It's the worst case scenario. Nobody can prepare for this. Nobody"
Another man also died in Lenoir County while he was connecting a generator.
Storm surges and heavy rain turned some roads into rivers and officials say problems will continue as electricity fails.
Roy Cooper the Governor of North Carolina said: "Right now we have about 650,000 North Carolinians without power statewide and the utility companies tell us that this number will keep rising and they think it could be anywhere from a million to two and a half million people that could eventually lose power."
Winds were recorded at 169 kph, the highest 1958.
As it approaches Ohio it will become a post-tropical storm before turning north eastwards towards Nova Scotia