Hurricane Nicole was upgraded to a Category 1 storm late Wednesday after making landfall within the Bahamas.
Nicole struck Grand Bahama Island around 6 p.m. and commenced walloping the tiny island locale with “dangerous storm surge and powerful winds” which are whipping at around 75 milers per hour, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Greater than 500 people within the Bahamas had been evacuated from their homes and into shelters because the storm approached, officials said. Flooding and power outages were reported in Grand Abaco, where Nicole passed through as a Tropical Storm earlier Wednesday.
Michael Brennan, the acting NHC Deputy Director, said Nicole is predicted to hit Florida along the east-central coast “somewhere within the vicinity from Palm Beach as much as the Treasure Coast” late Wednesday or early Thursday morning.
Nicole is then expected to maneuver northwest across Florida towards the Gulf of Mexico before making its way into the southern Appalachians Friday, Brennan said.
Though Nicole continues to be over 100 miles from Flordia, the state has already seen storm surge flooding along the east coast, Brennan said.
The Melbourne National Weather Service warned Floridians along the coast to keep away from beaches as water levels are expected to swell.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 34 counties in preparation for Nicole’s landfall within the Sunshine State.
Some counties ordered evacuations for mobile homes, barrier islands and low-lying areas and at the very least 4 school districts canceled classes for Thursday and Friday.
“We now have 16,000 linemen staged, 600 guardsmen activated, and seven Urban Search and Rescue teams on standby to deploy,” DeSantis said on Twitter.
