Tropical Storm Nicole is making its way through Florida, battering the east coast of the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in a 10:30 a.m. Eastern update that Nicole remained a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, making landfall overnight south of Vero Beach.
The storm is continuing to move through the state and is expected to exit off the west coast before reentering Florida in the Big Bend region. The effects of the storm are impacting communities far beyond the center of the track, however:
10 AM EST November 10 Key Messages for #Nicole: Tropical storm conditions, a dangerous storm surge and damaging waves, and heavy rainfall continue over a large area. See https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ for more details. pic.twitter.com/kqLluAYH85
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 10, 2022
Some areas have seen three- to five-foot storm surges, as well as heavy rains, flooding, and downed power lines.
“We’ve seen beach erosion, especially in areas that had already seen erosion from Hurricane Ian, and these are places like Brevard, Volusia, Flagler, and St. Johns counties,” DeSantis said.
Indeed, photos show the impacts of the storm in some of these communities thus far, with roads literally being washed into the sea, and roads completely underwater:
@JimCantore is LIVE in Daytona Beach Shores, FL where the destruction from #Nicole is evident.
WATCH as the powerful waves continue to batter the structures along the shore, causing some to collapse: pic.twitter.com/HLryMJvKWZ
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) November 10, 2022
Parts of the A1A washed away in
Flagler County!! #Nicole pic.twitter.com/cRLoxs9gbI— Chris Nelson 🇺🇸 🏝 (@ReOpenChris) November 10, 2022
We are going to have A LOT of work to do at the local, state, and federal level to restore Florida’s beautiful coastline after Ian and Nicole back-to-back. pic.twitter.com/WI15iEkTS6
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) November 10, 2022
To all CD7 (Seminole/ Volusia) residences and neighbors,
let’s stay safe and be cautious as TS Nicole passes. Be alert, cautious of standing waters and downed power lines, and listen for emergency updates.
Stay Strong Florida! We will get through this! #FloridaStrong pic.twitter.com/BdkH4LCM2Y
— Cory Mills 🍊🐊 (@CoryMillsFL) November 10, 2022
Hurricanes Ian & Nicole delivering a one-two punch to our coastline. My office will work w state/federal agencies for assistance. https://t.co/8f6fs8AWj5
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) November 10, 2022
DeSantis added that resources are ready for storm response and expanded the state of emergency to all counties, as they are not sure of the extent of the impacts of the storm statewide.
Currently, 2.98 percent of Florida is without power, but the state has 17,000 linemen staged and ready to respond, the governor continued.
“We’ve activated 600 National Guardsmen and have seven urban search and rescue teams on standby ready to respond as soon as the weather clears,” DeSantis added, noting that the storm “is obviously not as significant a storm as Hurricane Ian” but is having a significant impact due to battering the state just weeks later.
Because of that, “you’re seeing communities particularly in the Volusia County area, where you had a lot of that erosion on the coastline,” putting structures in jeopardy, he added.
WATCH:
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.