President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Florida and South Carolina as deadly Hurricane Matthew bears down.
More than 1.5 million people living in low-lying areas and on the barrier islands have been told to "evacuate, evacuate, evacuate" by Florida Governor Rick Scott, who has warned: "This storm will kill you."
Describing the hurricane as a "monster", he added: "Matthew is likely to produce devastating impacts."
It has already claimed hundreds of lives in the Caribbean. At least 339 were killed as Matthew swept across Haiti, which has so far been the hardest hit area.
The eye of the "extremely dangerous" hurricane has been bearing down on Freeport, in the Bahamas, and is now moving parallel to the Florida coast.
The western edge of Matthew's "eye wall" is approaching Cape Canaveral.
The latest predictions are that the hurricane might not actually make landfall in the US, and the most powerful winds may remain just off shore, but 500 miles of coastline are still under threat.
Matthew has weakened slightly from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm, but The National Hurricane Center says it is expected to remain a powerful hurricane..
Tourist attractions including Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Studios have been temporarily closed as a precaution, with Disney World saying the park would be closed throughout Friday.
British tourist Will Jenkins, who is on holiday at Disney World with his wife Victoria, said: "We were prepared to accuse Disney of overreacting, until they put all their guests on lockdown - advising us not to leave our rooms at all tomorrow - and issuing everyone with a torch."
At the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida, NASA and the private company SpaceX are taking precautions to protect capsules and rockets.
More than 270,000 people are without power in Florida.
In Georgia, more than 500,000 people are being moved from the state's six coastal counties, along with more than 175,000 residents in parts of South Carolina.
Forecasters have warned that large waves pushed by the storm could threaten lives and buildings even before the eye reaches or even nears the shore.
Even if it does not make landfall, it is still expected to get close enough to wreak havoc along the lower part of the coast.
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