The latest forecast models for Hurricane Florence show projections that the storm is likely moving towards Georgia.
The hurricane remains a Category 4 life-threatening storm with projections to hit the Carolina coast.
More than 1m people in at-risk areas are under mandatory evacuation orders.
"This is not a storm that you need to try to ride out," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper during a news conference on Tuesday. "It's historic and maybe once in a lifetime."
Hurricane Florence is on track to become the first Category 4 storm headed in a direct path for North Carolina in six decades. The National Hurricane Centre warned that the Florence "could produce life-threatening catastrophic flash flooding and significant river flooding over portions of the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states from late this week into early next week".
Latest projections show the storm is shifting slightly to the south, potentially putting areas of Georgia at risk for heavy rain, WSB-TV Atlanta reported.
"The Georgia impacts may increase," the station's meteorologist Brad Nitz wrote on Twitter.
Donald Trump has responded to recent projections that the storm has shifted south, potentially impacting Georgia, in a post published to Twitter.
"Hurricane Florence may now be dipping a bit south and hitting a portion of the Great State of Georgia," he wrote. "Be ready, be prepared!"
