Florence has strengthened into a major hurricane over the Atlantic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday.

The category 3 hurricane is about 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers) east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour), the NHC said.

The center of Florence is forecast to approach the coast of North or South Carolina in the United States on Thursday, the Miami-based weather forecaster added.