Axios

Several nuclear power plants in North Carolina and nearby states are bracing for Hurricane Florence, including a plant right in its path with the same design as the Japanese reactors that melted down in 2011 when a tsunami knocked out backup power.

Why it matters: While the probability is very low, the risk of a storm-fueled accident at a nuclear plant could be devastating and threaten the health of tens of thousands of people living nearby.

Hurricane Florence is on track for an unprecedented collision with the Carolinas, where it threatens to bring a deadly mix of storm surge flooding, high winds and catastrophic inland flooding.

The big picture: Florence is a nightmare of a storm: It's unusually large, contains waves towering to at least 83 feet, and is preparing to push a virtual wall of water onto the coastlines of North and South Carolina. The surge will not behave the same way residents of coastal communities there are used to. Instead, it may hammer the coast of North Carolina for 24 hours or more, and then slide from northeast to southwest, down into South Carolina, as the storm meanders.

Even though it's not heading for the Gulf Coast oil belt, Hurricane Florence could create some serious energy disruptions.

Threat level: Infrastructure in the storm's path includes the Colonial and Plantation Pipelines that carry refined products through the Carolinas.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, the advocacy and philanthropic arm of Mike Bloomberg’s organization, gave Axios an early look at the new trailer for their second documentary film, "Paris to Pittsburgh."

Why it matters: It's a direct rebuke of President Trump's intention to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement — one that underscores the deep-pocketed organization's recent push to use filmmaking as a national advocacy tool.

As Hurricane Florence approaches the East Coast, President Trump again touted his administration's "unappreciated great job" in Puerto Rico responding to last year's Hurricane Maria — a storm that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people — in a Wednesday morning tweet.

"We got A Pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida (and did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan). We are ready for the big one that is coming!"

Go deeper: Lawmakers push back against Trump's Maria comments.

Hurricane Florence will likely wreak havoc on the health care systems in North and South Carolina when it makes landfall later this week, and preparations are already underway to deal with consequences ranging from stranded patients to disruptions in high-tech pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The big picture: As we all learned from Hurricane Maria, a major storm's impact on health care lasts a long time. The Southeast mainland has better existing infrastructure than Puerto Rico did, but there's still a lot to prepare for.

A nonprofit pushing technology that captures carbon-dioxide emissions from the sky is rebranding and redoubling its focus as the zany-sounding tech gains steam.

Why it matters: The evolution of the group, Center for Carbon Removal, reflects growing interest in the technology among foundations and other groups. Experts say it’s increasingly essential for limiting Earth’s temperature rise and avoiding the worst impacts of a warmer world. That’s because there is already so much buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we’ve reached a point that some needs to be taken out.

Hurricane Florence continues to churn menacingly toward the Carolina coastline — about two days away from coming very close to landfall in North Carolina. The storm will be capable of causing extreme damage, and will deliver a deadly one-two punch of coastal impacts from storm surge flooding and high winds, along with an inland deluge that will turn farms and communities into a virtual extension of the Atlantic.

The big picture: The odds that Florence will hit the brakes as it nears the coast have increased, and while this could lower the storm's peak winds at landfall, it will only mean a different set of deadly impacts. The storm surge flooding from a massive storm with an unusually large wind field and slow forward speed, along with freshwater inland flooding from a staggering amount of rain — up to 3 feet in some areas, are the leading threats to pay attention to.

NIO, a Chinese electric car company whose backers include Baidu and Tencent, raised at least $1 billion in an IPO that priced at $6.25 per share, according to Reuters. It will begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bottom line: NIO may someday become a rival to Tesla, but so far it makes Elon Musk's manufacturing output look prodigious. The Chinese upstart only began making deliveries this past June, with fewer than 2,000 vehicles shipped through the end of August.