VIDEO: Hurricane Florence rips canopy off Topsail Beach gas station

TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C. -- Watch as Hurricane Florence smashes a canopy to the ground Thursday night in Topsail Beach.

You can see the canopy's lights flicker as it creaks and sways in the gale-force winds. Finally, the storm's power is too much and the wind blows it into the shop area.

Forecasters say the combination of a life-threatening storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

MORE: Full coverage of Hurricane Florence

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Part of the Starlite Motel is washed away in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

AP Photo/David Goldman