The storm introduced heavy winds and rain to areas nonetheless reeling from Hurricane Ian in September.
Hurricane Nicole has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall within the US state of Florida’s east coast, in accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service.
The storm introduced heavy rains and fierce winds, and got here as some coastal areas had been nonetheless reeling from the final main storm – Hurricane Ian – which hit six weeks in the past.
As Nicole approached, a hurricane warning was posted for a 550km (240 mile) coastal stretch that included the Kennedy Area Heart at Cape Canaveral, the place NASA’s new moon rocket stood uncovered to the weather and anchored to its launch pad.
The storm formally made landfall at 3am native time and introduced sustained winds of as much as 120kph (75 mph) because it moved alongside the east coast of Florida north of Miami, the Nationwide Hurricane Heart mentioned.
Authorities warned Nicole posed a formidable risk, notably to constructions and coastal foundations weakened by Ian, which destroyed houses and broken crops throughout the state, leaving no less than 114 individuals lifeless in Florida.
Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood warned “dozens upon dozens” of oceanside buildings within the county, together with high-rise condominiums, have been declared structurally unsafe since Ian, with some “in imminent hazard of collapsing” within the occasion of additional shoreline erosion.
Volusia was certainly one of a number of coastal counties to challenge obligatory evacuation orders or suggested residents in oceanside communities and barrier islands to hunt larger floor.
At some areas, authorities went door-to-door telling individuals to seize their possessions and depart.
“That is the final window of alternative to safe your households and to safe your properties and presumably avoid wasting lives,” Chitwood mentioned.
Seawalls destroyed this AM in Daytona Seashore. Buildings evacuated. pic.twitter.com/dyBW0I3D7R
— Mike’s Climate Web page (@tropicalupdate) November 9, 2022
At a information convention on Wednesday in Tallahassee, Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned winds had been the largest concern and vital energy outages might happen, however 16,000 personnel had been on standby to revive energy in addition to 600 guardsmen and 7 search-and-rescue groups. State officers additionally opened 15 emergency shelters throughout the area.
“It should have an effect on large elements of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis mentioned.
Greater than a dozen college districts had been closed. Orlando Worldwide Airport introduced it was ceasing industrial operations on Wednesday afternoon.
The storm, which was first declared a hurricane on Wednesday, had beforehand unleashed in depth flooding throughout a lot of the Bahamas.
Nicole is simply the third November hurricane to hit Florida’s shores since document conserving started in 1853. The earlier ones had been the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.