More than 300,000 homes and businesses in Florida are without power as a result of the storm Nicole.
Forecasts of severe rain and storm surges have prompted the declaration of states of emergency and the issuance of evacuation orders, as well as the advice to inhabitants to remain indoors.
Two persons were electrocuted by a downed power line in Orange County, in the state’s geographic center.
This late in the year, storms of this magnitude are highly uncommon.
The storm has already caused significant flooding in the Bahamas as a category one hurricane.
Hurricane Nicole struck the east coast of Florida around 3:00 EST (08:00 GMT) with winds of up to 75 mph (120 km/h). These have dropped to approximately 60 mph, and Nicole has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it moves north-northwest across Florida.
Since the storm’s early morning arrival, more than 600,000 households and businesses have been left without power. According to service providers, electricity has been restored to around half of these, but 308,000 remain without power.
In the next two days, the storm is projected to weaken as it moves north into Georgia and the Carolinas.
Later in the week, its remains may reach Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
The majority of Florida’s 22 million citizens remained under tropical storm, strong wind, and storm surge warnings, as well as municipal hurricane advisories urging people to be indoors and to be on the lookout for floods.
45 of the 67 counties in the state are under a state of emergency, while four counties have mandatory evacuation orders.
The NHC has issued a flood warning due to wind-driven waves rushing inland into low-lying areas, and stated that trees and electricity lines are expected to be brought down by severe gusts. Social media footage demonstrated that this was already in progress.
There are fifteen emergency shelters, twenty school districts have closed, and 1,600 utility personnel are on standby to restore power.
Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort shuttered early on Wednesday in preparation for Nicole’s arrival, and Orlando International Airport grounded commercial flights.
Nicole’s arrival is also likely to further delay a long-delayed NASA rocket launch, which hopes to put the United States one step closer to returning to the Moon.
The Artemis 1 mission had already been delayed until November 19, but there are now concerns that flying debris from the storm could damage the exposed rocket.
Nicole’s late arrival follows a remarkably calm storm season; for the first August since 1997, no hurricanes or tropical storms formed in the Atlantic basin.
In Florida, November hurricanes are uncommon. Since record-keeping began in 1853, just two hurricanes have struck the sunny state: in 1935 and 1985.
Nicole arrives two weeks after Hurricane Ian devastated Florida, killing over 140 people and causing $60 billion (£51 billion) in damage.
