Hurricane Nicole on path to hit Florida Thursday
Nicole forced people from their homes as it slammed the Bahamas as a rare November hurricane Wednesday. In anticipation of making landfall in Florida by early Thursday morning, theme parks and airports had been shut down and evacuation orders issued, which included former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club.
The National Hurricane Center estimated that Nicole had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, making it a Category 1 storm, as it made landfall on Grand Bahama Island. As of 10 p.m. ET, the storm was located about 75 miles north-northeast of West Palm Beach, Florida, and was moving west-northwest at 13 mph, the NHC said.
Landfall in Florida was expected late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, somewhere between Vero Beach and West Palm Beach. The storm was then expected to move across the peninsula and hit Florida's west coast by about 1 p.m. ET Thursday, creating more storm surge on the Gulf Coast side of the state.
Nicole was forecast to "move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia Thursday and Thursday night, and into the Carolinas Friday," the NHC said in its latest advisory. It was expected to weaken into a post-tropical cyclone by Friday afternoon, but not before bringing several inches of rain to the region, along with the risk of flooding and the threat of tornadoes.
Hundreds of people sought shelter in the northwestern Bahamas before the approaching storm, which had already sent seawater washing across roads on barrier islands in Florida. Before even making landfall, the storm had washed away part of a seawall on Florida's east coast, causing buildings to teeter on the ocean's edge, with at least one collapsing.
The NHC said the center of the sprawling storm made landfall on Great Abaco island as a tropical storm around midday Wednesday with estimated maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. It became a hurricane when it hit Grand Bahama island.
Officials in the Bahamas said that more than 860 people were in more than two dozen shelters. Extensive flooding, downed trees and power and water outages were reported in the archipelago's northwest region.
Nicole is the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019, before hitting Florida.
Authorities were especially concerned about a large Haitian community in Great Abaco that was destroyed by Dorian and has since grown from 50 acres to 200 acres.
"Do not put yourselves in harm's way," said Zhivago Dames, assistant commissioner of police information as he urged everyone to stay indoors. "Our first responders are out there. However, they will not put their lives in danger."
In Florida, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said in a tweet that storm surge from Hurricane Nicole had already breached the sea wall along Indian River Drive, which runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean. The Martin County Sheriff's office also said seawater had breached part of a road on Hutchinson Island.
Residents in several Florida counties — Flagler, Palm Beach, Martin and Volusia — were ordered to evacuate such barrier islands, low-lying areas and mobile homes. Volusia, home to Daytona Beach, imposed a curfew and warned that intercoastal bridges used by evacuees would close when winds reach 39 mph.
Mar-a-Lago, Trump's club and home, is in one of those evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort's security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated and there was no sign of evacuation by early afternoon.
There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.
In Lee County, debris still left behind from Hurricane Ian could become deadly projectiles as the wind speed increases. Four to six feet of storm surge is expected to flood areas already submerged by Ian.
Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they were closing early on Wednesday and likely would not reopen as scheduled on Thursday.
Palm Beach International Airport closed Wednesday morning, and Daytona Beach International Airport said it would cease operations. Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., was set to close at 4 p.m.. Further south, officials said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport were experiencing some flight delays and cancellations but both planned to remain open.
As of Tuesday evening, Miami International Airport officials said there were 50 cancellations — 26 arrivals and 24 departures — due to Nicole, CBS Miami reported. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International officials said 89 flights had been affected — 44 arrivals and 45 departures, according to CBS Miami.
Tampa International Airport, located on the gulf coast side of the state, said it planned to remain open.
"After reviewing the Tampa Bay area forecast for Tropical Storm Nicole this morning, TPA does not anticipate significant weather impacts that would warrant closing the airport," the airport said in a statement, noting that carriers could still choose to cancel or alter flights scheduled to fly into and out of TPA.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said 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.
"It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day," DeSantis said of the storm's expected landing.
Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm, including Broward County schools, and 15 shelters had opened along Florida's east coast, the governor said.
Forty-five of Florida's 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.
Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie said Floridians should expect possible tornadoes, rip currents and flash flooding.
The storm also delayed the launch of NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket. The rocket will remain on the launch pad for now, NASA said, saying it can withstand winds of up to 85 mph.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis, who is at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, drew attention to the link between storms and climate change.
"There have always been storms, but as the planet warms from carbon emissions, storms are growing in intensity and frequency," he said. "For those in Grand Bahama and Abaco, I know it is especially difficult for you to face another storm."
Only two hurricanes have made landfall in Florida in the month of November since recordkeeping began in 1853 — the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.
New warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline which was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state — damage that many are still dealing with.
In Florida, the "combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline," the hurricane center said.
Hurricane specialist Brown said the storm will affect a large part of the state.
"Because the system is so large, really almost the entire east coast of Florida except the extreme southeastern part and the Keys is going to receive tropical storm force winds," he said.
The storm is then expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia on Thursday, forecasters said. It was then forecast to move across the Carolinas on Friday.
"We are going to be concerned with rainfall as we get later into the week across portions of the southeastern United States and southern Appalachians, where there could be some flooding, flash flooding with that rainfall," Brown said.
Early Wednesday, President Biden declared an emergency in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts to the approaching storm. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still responding to those in need from Hurricane Ian.
At the beach just north of Mar-a-Lago as winds gusts neared 40 mph Wednesday afternoon, numerous people were taking videos of the churning ocean. The normally calm waters had rapid, strong surf with 5-foot breakers.
Denny DeHaven, who works for a Social Security advocacy group, said he lives inland so he's not too concerned.
"It's only going to be a Category 1 — the thing I mostly worry about is a power outage," he said. "The people I worry about are those who live around here after seeing what happened in Fort Myers." Hurricane Ian brought storm surge of up to 13 feet in late September, causing widespread destruction.
In a video posted on Twitter, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the surge had already arrived and dozens of seaside buildings were declared structurally unsafe. A mandatory evacuation was issued for the beach side, and a curfew was scheduled for 7 p.m.
"We're looking for a really rough night here," Chitwood said. "This is not the time to have hurricane fatigue. This is the last window of opportunity to secure your families and secure your properties, and possibly save some lives here."
