Tropical Storm Nicole Weakening Towards Georgia

Miami – Tropical Storm Nicole weakened into a tropical storm on Thursday night as it moved north across the Florida Panhandle and en route to Georgia.

A storm smashed Florida homes into the Atlantic early Thursday, threatening a row of high-rise apartments in the area. Hurricane Ian It washed the coast and destroyed the breakwater just a few weeks ago.

At 10 p.m., the National Hurricane Center advisory said the center of the storm was about 20 miles (35 km) north of Tallahassee, with maximum wind speeds of 35 mph (55 kmh). It was traveling northwest at 24 km (15 miles) per hour.

The hurricane, which killed at least two people, was the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in November in 37 years and only the third on record. Just weeks after Ian landed on the Gulf Coast, it struck another devastating blow, killing over 130 people and destroying thousands of homes.

Nicol’s winds eased after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Vero Beach around 3 a.m. Thursday, but the storm surge slammed into the shoreline of the neighboring barrier island community of Wilbur-by-the-Sea. did. Daytona Beach Shorescrashing some houses into the sea.

Officials in Volusia County, northeast of Orlando, said Thursday night that building inspectors had declared 24 hotels and condos in Daytona Beach Shores and New Smyrna Beach unsafe and ordered them to be evacuated. At least 25 single-family homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea were declared structurally unsafe by building inspectors and evacuated, county officials said.

“The structural damage along our coastline is unprecedented. said it was unclear when they would be able to return home safely.

County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a social media post that multiple coastal homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea have collapsed and several other properties are in “imminent danger.” He said most bridges to beachside properties have been closed to all but essential personnel and curfews have been in place.

Christa Dowling Goodrich, director of sales and marketing for Salty Dog Vacations, who manages 130 rental homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea and Daytona Beach Shores, witnessed her backyard collapse into the ocean just before a storm. .

Then the backs of about seven colorful houses along the A1A motorway disappeared. A modern house lost two bedrooms and most of the living room due to water pooling under the foundation. The partially collapsed wall was decorated with the words “Blessed” and “Thanks.” Goodrich burst into tears when he saw it.

“Half the house is gone, but I was able to take a family photo yesterday,” Goodrich said. and now I’ve lost everything.”

In Daytona Beach Shores, a beachfront bathroom attached to the city’s Beach Safety Ocean Rescue building collapsed, prompting authorities to deem several high-rise buildings unsafe and go door-to-door asking people to take their belongings and leave. said to

“These were tall skyscrapers, which meant that people who didn’t want to leave were being physically kicked out because they weren’t safe,” Goodrich said.

The Homeowners Association of Marbella condos on the Daytona Beach Shores had just spent $240,000 to temporarily rebuild a seawall that Ian destroyed in September, said Connie Hale Gerner. Live video from the building’s cameras showed Nicole’s storm surge sweeping the breakwater.

“We knew it wasn’t going to stop hurricanes, it was just going to stop erosion,” Gerner says. But after Nicole, the building’s pool and his deck are “basically in the ocean,” Gerner says. “The problem is that the beach is gone. Even if we wanted to rebuild it, they would probably blame the building because the water is just splashing over it.”

Nicole was sprawling, covering nearly the entirety of weather-weary Florida, while also reaching Georgia and Carolina before dawn on Thursday. Strong winds from the tropical storm extended up to 450 miles (720 kilometers) from the center in some directions as Nicole headed north through central Florida.

Nicole’s wind damage was minimal, but the storm surge was more devastating than before. Climate change is melting the Earth’s ice and rising sea levelssaid Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University. In total, coastal flooding will increase and flow inland, making what used to be a once-in-a-hundred-year event an almost annual event in some places, he said.

“This is definitely part of what’s going on,” said Oppenheimer. “It will happen elsewhere. It will happen all over the world.”

A man and a woman were electrocuted after touching downed power lines in the Orlando area, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. According to the National Weather Service, Nicole also said that parts of the St. Johns River are at or above flood stage, and several rivers in the Tampa Bay area are also approaching flood levels, causing flooding inland. I got

Nicole landed near Vero Beach, but there was no major damage, officials said. Part of the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea fishing pier was washed away, but it was the north side of the center that bore the brunt of the storm. By 1 p.m., Nicole’s maximum sustained winds had dropped to 45 mph (70 km/h) as she moved toward Tallahassee.

of Rare November Hurricane Up to 6 inches (15 cm) of rain could fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains by Friday, according to the Hurricane Center. Flash floods and urban flooding are possible as rain spreads through the eastern Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and New England through Saturday.

Nicole was the first hurricane to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian. Category 5 storm devastated archipelago in 2019. storm-weary floridaIt was the first time a hurricane hit the coast in November since 1985 and the third since records began in 1853.

All 67 counties in Florida are in a state of emergency. President Joe Biden has also approved a state of emergency for Florida’s Seminoles and ordered federal support for tribal nations. Many Seminoles live on his six reservations in the state.

According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, about 257 kilometers south of Volusia County, Nicole’s winds and waves have found the remains of six people on a beach on Hutchinson Island, believed to have been unearthed from a Native American burial site. rice field. .

“Investigators are working diligently to preserve and carefully remove the exposed remains with the utmost care and respect,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The body will be taken to the coroner and then to the state’s Archaeological Research Office.

About 333,000 customers lost power in the morning, about 2.9% of the statewide, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee on Thursday. He said there are 17,000 power linemen ready to begin restoring power, and many other assets, including rescue boats and vehicles, will be deployed if needed.

Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced Thursday that the parks will likely not open as scheduled. Nearly 20 school districts have closed schools and 15 shelters have opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.

part of florida devastated by Hurricane Ian, struck as a Category 4 storm.Ian homes destroyed and crops damagedincluding orange groves across the state — damage that many are still dealing with — and sent storm surges of up to 13 feet (4 meters) onto the coast, causing widespread destruction.

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Frisaro reported from Fort Lauderdale. AP contributors include Terry Spencer of Vero Beach, Kurt Anderson of St. Petersburg, David Fisher of Miami, Sharm He El He Sheikh of Egypt and Seth Borenstein.

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