Update: Hurricane Florence made landfall as a Category 1 on Friday and is expected to slowly move over parts of the Carolinas all weekend. In a press conference, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned, “The storm is going to continue its violent grind across our state for days.”

The predictions are not good: massive flooding, destructive winds, life-threatening storm surges and tornadoes are expected as Hurricane Florence heads for the southeast coast of the United States. The storm was downgraded to a category 2 hurricane, but experts are warning — and pleading with residents in evacuation zones — to take the situation as deadly serious.

Explaining the difference between a category 3 and category 2 storm, Jeff Byard, an administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters, “Do you want to get hit with a train or do you want to get hit with a cement truck?”

Here is a breakdown of Hurricane Florence and its expected effects:

• 400 miles: the storm’s diameter, which is approximately the size of four Ohios put together
• 110 mph: top expected wind speed when it makes landfall
• 12 mph: speed the storm is moving
• 40 inches: rainfall expected in hardest hit areas
• 13 feet: predicted storm surge height
• 1.7 million: people in evacuation zones
• 5.25 million: people who live in affected areas
• 4: number of category 3 of higher hurricanes that have made landfall between Norfolk, Va., and Savannah, Ga., since 1950
• $10 million: amount recently diverted from FEMA to pay for ICE detention centers and deportation efforts
• $30 billion: projected damages according to AccuWeather’s Joel Myers
• $15-$20 billion: expected losses covered by insurance
• 1,000: number of commercial flights canceled (with more expected)

Read about storm and disaster preparedness for business owners here.