From the 2 am public advisory:
Winds increase rapidly in elevation in a tropical cyclone. Residents in high-rise buildings should be aware that the winds at the top of a 30-story building will be, on average, about one Saffir-Simpson category higher than the winds near the surface.
The National Hurricane Center's twitter feed is here. Their website is here.
Even the Kennedy Space Center, Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios are closed. More worrisome to some is that the Waffle House Restaurants have closed up and down I-95 from Ft. Pierce to Titusville. Waffle House is known for staying open during disasters, and are considered by FEMA and others as a gauge of the scope of the disaster. (warning: auto-play video)
As to the danger (from the National Hurricane Center's 2 am advisory):
The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. There is a danger of life-threatening inundation during the next 36 hours along the Florida east coast, the Georgia coast, and the South Carolina coast from Boca Raton, Florida, to South Santee River, South Carolina.
There is the possibility of life-threatening inundation during the next 48 hours from north of South Santee River, South Carolina, to Cape Fear, North Carolina. For a depiction of areas at risk, please see the Prototype National Weather Service Storm Surge Watch/Warning Graphic.
There's really someplace named Cape Fear?