Early on Thursday, Hurricane Nicole made landfall on Florida‘s Atlantic coast just south of Vero Beach, according to authorities.
At roughly 3 a.m., the hurricane made landfall. EST on North Hutchinson Island off the coast of the Florida peninsula, with sustained winds expected to be around 75 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Before the storm made landfall, hurricane warnings were issued for the Florida coast from Boca Raton to the county boundary between Flagler and Volusia counties, which is northeast of Orlando.
According to predictions, the hurricane could also deliver a 3 to 5-foot storm surge and 3 to 5 inches of rain to some places.
According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 16,000 utility personnel were on standby, and 600 members of the National Guard had been called. 45 counties in the state were declared to be in a state of emergency.
According to the outage-tracking website poweroutage.us, more than 57,500 customers in the state were without electricity as of 3 a.m. on Thursday.
Before the hurricane, officials in the counties of Volusia, Palm Beach, and Flagler ordered the mandatory evacuation of some communities.
Bridges to the barrier island in St. Lucie County will be blocked on Wednesday, but individuals who wanted to escape could still do so, according to officials. Daytona Beach’s bridges were also shut down.
Officials from St. Lucie County warned everyone to take the hurricane seriously and to evacuate if they were on the barrier island or in certain low-lying areas.
As the storm came on Wednesday afternoon, boat ramps were underwater, and flooding was already there, according to Deputy County Administrator Mark Satterlee.
“It hasn’t even started raining yet. So, Satterlee said at a news conference on Wednesday, “we’re particularly worried about the amount of flooding that we’re going to experience in the eastern half of the county.
According to him, Wednesday night’s situation was certain to get worse. According to the hurricane centre, tropical-storm-force winds could be felt as far away as 485 miles as of late Wednesday.
Mar-a- Built approximately a quarter mile inland from the beach, Lago, the club and residence of former president Donald Trump, is located in one of the evacuation zones. Since it was constructed almost a century ago, the property has withstood numerous stronger hurricanes, according to The Associated Press. The main buildings are situated on a small rise about 15 feet above sea level.
Before the hurricane made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, rain and coastal flooding were beginning to be felt there.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office shared a video on social media on Wednesday night that showed waves battering a causeway.
It was reported that shortly before midnight on Wednesday, a meteorological station near Sebastian Inlet, a barrier island south of Melbourne, recorded winds gusting to 66 mph and 48 mph, respectively.
Due to strong winds, the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority announced late on Wednesday that it had to stop efforts to restore power. Crews would not be able to start working again until the wind speed dropped below 35 mph.
Less than 100 miles to the east of Florida, on Grand Bahama Island, Hurricane Nicole made landfall on Wednesday. In the northwest of the archipelago, extensive flooding, downed trees, and power and water disruptions were reported.
On Thursday and Thursday night, after making landfall in Florida, Nicole is predicted to proceed through central and northern Florida, into southern Georgia, and then into the Carolinas.
About six weeks after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida, Nicole made landfall as a hurricane.
On September 28, that storm hit the opposite side of Florida, close to Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast, before moving across the state to the Atlantic. One of the strongest hurricanes to have been recorded to hit the state was Ian.
