After making landfall early Thursday morning near Vero Beach as a Category 1 hurricane, producing strong winds, dangerous storm surge and pounding waves along the east coast, Nicole is once again a tropical storm that may have killed five people.
Four deaths have been attributed to the storm in Orange County, where the sheriff's office tweeted that two people were electrocuted by a downed power line. Officials urged people to never touch a downed wire.
Also in that county, two people were killed in a car crash on Florida's Turnpike in probable storm-related deaths, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings told ABC News.
A 68-year-old man whose docked yacht was being pounded by waves suffered a medical emergency, Cocoa police said. The man died at a hospital Thursday, CBS News reported.
Widespread power outages have dropped from more than 330,000 to about 160,000 Thursday evening.
(Volusia County Sheriff's Office)
The Tower Grande Condominium has to be evacuated due to unsafe conditions and the collapse of the sea wall.
According to the National Hurricane Center's 7 a.m. update, the center of Tropical Storm Nicole is located in Central Florida about 50 miles west of Orlando and is moving toward the west-northwest at about 14 mph. The storm is expected emerge over the far northeastern Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon and then move across the Florida Panhandle and Georgia Thursday night and Friday morning.
"The storm is very large with winds stretching hundreds of miles from the center and much of the state is experiencing tropical storm-force winds," Gov. Ron DeSantis said during an 11 a.m. new conference. "But we've also seen heavy rains that resulted from 3 to 5 feet of storm surge in some areas. Impacts have been basically what was expected. You do have downed trees, you have some power outages, you have some road washouts, and with the combined winds and storm surge, we've seen beach erosion."
DeSantis said he expanded the state of emergency to all Florida counties, "Simply because we're not sure of the extent of the impact in Northwest Florida in particular."
After about 333,000 Florida customers without power early in the day, that number had dropped to 231,000 by 5 p.m., according to PowerOutage.US.
DeSantis said 17,000 linemen are staged to restore power as conditions improve, 600 National Guard members are activated and seven urban search and rescue teams are on standby to deploy.
The storm is expected to turn toward the north-northeast later Thursday afternoon and into Thursday night.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 35 mph with higher gusts. Additional weakening of Nicole is forecast as it continues its inland trek.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge reopened Thursday around 4 p.m. after closing to all traffic because of high winds from Tropical Storm Nicole earlier in the day, according to a travel advisory from the Florida Highway Patrol.
According to hurricane center forecasters, Nicole remains a large tropical storm with winds extending up to 450 miles.
The tropical storm warning has been discontinued along the Florida west coast south of Englewood in Sarasota County and along the Florida east coast south of Sebastian Inlet. The tropical storm warning has also been discontinued for Lake Okeechobee and the storm surge warning is no longer in effect for the Florida east coast south of Sebastian Inlet.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for:
- Sebastian Inlet to South Santee River in South Carolina
- Englewood to Indian Pass
A storm surge warning is in effect for:
- Sebastian Inlet to Altamaha Sound, Georgia
- The mouth of the St. Johns River to Georgetown, Florida
- Anclote River to the Ochlockonee River
A storm surge watch is in effect for:
- Ochlockonee River to Indian Pass
- Altamaha Sound, Georgia, to South Santee River, South Carolina
A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area.
A storm surge warning means there is a danger of life-threatening inundation from rising water moving inland from the coastline. A storm surge watch means there is a possibility of life-threatening inundation from rising water moving inland from the coastline during the next 48 hours.
After Nicole tears across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday, the storm will turn northward and track across the interior part of the southeastern United States as a tropical depression and eventually a potent wind and rainstorm from Thursday night to Friday, Accuweather meteorologists say. The storm's path will bring much-needed rain to drought-plagued areas in the Southeast, as well as life-threatening flooding and tornadoes.
Floridians can expect 3 to 5 inches of rain with localized areas getting as much as 8 inches.
Flash and urban flooding will be likely and large swells on the northeast Florida coast are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip currents.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Nicole was the first November hurricane to hit the United States in 37 years.
The last hurricane to make landfall in November was Hurricane Kate, which struck the Florida panhandle on Nov. 21, 1985, as a Category 2 hurricane.
Forecasters at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said in their annual prediction for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and continues through Nov. 30, that the season should be active.
According to this year's forecast, the ongoing La Niña, in addition to above-average ocean temperatures, means there's a 65 percent chance the 2022 hurricane season will be above normal. For the 2022 season, forecasters are predicting 14 to 21 named storms with winds of 39 mph or higher. Of those, anywhere from six to 10 of the storms could become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or higher.
This year's season could also spawn anywhere from three to six major hurricanes rated a category 3 or higher, forecasters said.