\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Terry Spencer and Freida Frisaro<\/div><\/div>\n

Nicole hit near Vero Beach as a Cat 1 hurricane early Thurs. Now a tropical storm, its high winds and other impacts covered nearly all of Fla., into Ga. and Carolinas.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2013 Tropical Storm Nicole hit Florida as a hurricane Thursday, washing away the remaining protections for a stretch of beachfront\u00a0properties\u00a0that lost their seawall during Hurricane Ian only weeks before. In\u00a0Daytona Beach Shores, surging ocean water threatened the foundations of at least a dozen high-rise condos and\u00a0houses.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole\u00a0remains a sprawling tropical storm, covering nearly the entire weather-weary state of\u00a0Florida\u00a0early Thursday while also reaching into\u00a0Georgia\u00a0and the Carolinas. Damaging winds extended as far as 450 miles (720 kilometers) from the center in some directions as\u00a0Nicole\u00a0turned northward over central\u00a0Florida\u00a0Thursday morning.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Krista Dowling Goodrich, who manages 130 rental\u00a0homes\u00a0in\u00a0Daytona Beach Shores\u00a0as director of sales and marketing at\u00a0Salty Dog Vacations, witnessed the beachfront disappear behind some of the\u00a0properties\u00a0as evacuations were under way.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we were there the whole backyard just started collapsing into the ocean. It went all the way up to the\u00a0house,\u201d she said. The water also compromised the remaining land between a row of tall condominium buildings nearby, she said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Officials in\u00a0Daytona Beach Shores\u00a0deemed multiple multi-story coastal residential buildings unsafe and went door-to-door telling people to grab their possessions and leave.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese were the tall high-rises. So the people who wouldn\u2019t leave, they were physically forcing them out because it\u2019s not safe,\u201d Goodrich said. \u201cI\u2019m concerned for the infrastructure of the area right now because once the seawalls are gone, they\u2019re not going to just let people go back in … there will be a lot of people displaced for a while.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The rare November hurricane prompted officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations in areas that included former President Donald Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club. Authorities warned that Nicole\u2019s storm surge could further erode many beaches hit by Hurricane Ian in September.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole\u00a0made landfall near\u00a0Vero Beach\u00a0as a Category 1 hurricane at about\u00a03 a.m. Thursday, more than a hundred miles south of\u00a0Daytona Beach Shores, before its maximum sustained winds dropped to 60 mph (100 kph), the\u00a0Miami-based center said. The storm was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of\u00a0Orlando. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph (22 kph).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist at the\u00a0National Hurricane Center\u00a0in\u00a0Miami\u00a0advised people to understand that hazards from Tropical Storm Nicole \u201cwill exist across the state of\u00a0Florida\u00a0today.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole\u00a0came could briefly emerge over the northeastern corner of the Gulf of\u00a0Mexico\u00a0Thursday afternoon before moving over the\u00a0Florida\u00a0Panhandle\u00a0and\u00a0Georgia, he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The storm left south\u00a0Florida\u00a0sunny and calm as it moved north but could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain over\u00a0Blue Ridge Mountains\u00a0by Friday, the hurricane center said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A few tornadoes were possible through early Thursday across east-central to northeast\u00a0Florida, the forecasters said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible, along with renewed river rises on the\u00a0St. Johns River, across the\u00a0Florida\u00a0Peninsula\u00a0on Thursday. Heavy rainfall will spread northward into the eastern\u00a0Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and\u00a0New England\u00a0through Saturday.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole\u00a0became a hurricane Wednesday evening as it slammed into\u00a0Grand Bahama Island. It was the first to hit the\u00a0Bahamas\u00a0since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For storm-weary Floridians, it is only the third November hurricane to hit their shores since recordkeeping began in 1853. The previous ones were the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mar-a-Lago, Trump\u2019s club and\u00a0home, was in one of the evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the\u00a0property\u00a0has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort\u2019s security office hung up Wednesday when an\u00a0Associated Press\u00a0reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated, and there was no sign of evacuation by Wednesday afternoon.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Disney World\u00a0and\u00a0Universal Orlando Resort\u00a0announced they likely would not open as scheduled Thursday.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Forty-five of\u00a0Florida\u2019s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration. President\u00a0Joe Biden\u00a0also approved an emergency declaration for the\u00a0Seminole Tribe of\u00a0Florida, ordering federal help for the tribal nation, many of whose members live on six reservations around the state. The tribe also owns the\u00a0Hard Rock Cafe\u00a0franchise, with several of its hotels and casinos in\u00a0Nicole’s\u00a0path.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At a news conference Wednesday in\u00a0Tallahassee, Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis\u00a0said that winds were the biggest concern and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will affect huge parts of the state of\u00a0Florida\u00a0all day,\u201d DeSantis said of the storm\u2019s expected landing.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along\u00a0Florida\u2019s east coast, the governor said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Parts of\u00a0Florida\u00a0were devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm. Ian destroyed\u00a0homes\u00a0and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state \u2013 damage that many are still dealing with \u2013 and sent a storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) onshore, causing widespread destruction.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n X<\/span>
\n
\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

<\/p>\n

Go to Source<\/a>
\nAuthor: marlam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"