US NHC says Florence weakens, but likely to remain strong hurricane

Florence has weakened but is expected to remain a strong hurricane in the Atlantic for the next several days, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.

The category 3 hurricane, located about 1,170 miles (1,885 km) east-southeast of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (mph) (185 km per hour), is moving northwest at about 12 mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

"Swells generated by Florence will begin to affect Bermuda on Friday and will reach portions of the U.S. East Coast over the weekend," the agency said. (Reporting by Arijit Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Dale Hudson)