As Hurricane Florence continued its track toward the U.S. Southeast Coast on Wednesday, emergency officials spread warnings on social media that it would be the last day to safely evacuate and to make final preparations.

Tropical-storm force winds are forecast to arrive on the mainland early Thursday morning.

In an interview with NPR’s On Point Wednesday morning, Global Resilience Institute Founding Director Dr. Stephen Flynn discussed preparedness before the storm and recovery in its aftermath, and explained why “baking-in” resilience will be key in the years ahead.

“It’s not just that we’re seeing more frequent and intense events,” said Dr. Flynn. “It is that because we’re so deeply interconnected and dependent on technology and systems, that when they get knocked down, it cascades and has a much wider impact.”

Dr. Flynn was joined by Greg Postel, hurricane and storm specialist for The Weather Channel, Abigail Darlington, reporter for South Carolina Post and Courier and Amanda Kinseth, reporter for WPDE ABC 15 News in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“We focus very much on the life safety issues when these things happen like they’re rare events, when in fact they’re becoming much more frequent,” added Dr. Flynn. “We just have to get ourselves out of the mindset where, ‘We’ll just cope with it when it happens and it probably won’t.”

To listen to the full interview, use the player above or CLICK HERE.