Hurricane Nicole hits Florida, 4 people dead in Orange County
Official reports say that Hurricane Nicole hit the ground early Thursday morning just south of Vero Beach on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
The National Hurricane Center reported that the hurricane made landfall on North Hutchinson Island off the east coast of the Florida peninsula at about 3 a.m. EST with sustained winds of roughly 75 mph.
The re-elected governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, said that 600 members of the National Guard have been mobilized and that 16,000 utility personnel are on standby. The governor has proclaimed a state of emergency in 45 of the state’s counties.
According to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks power outages, as of three in the morning on Thursday, more than 57,500 customers in the state were without power.
Ahead of the hurricane, authorities in Volusia, Palm Beach, and Flagler counties issued mandatory evacuation orders for certain regions in their counties.
Officials from St. Lucie County have asked residents living on the barrier island and in certain low-lying regions to leave, and they have also urged everyone to take the impending storm seriously.
Forecasters anticipate that after making landfall in Florida, Hurricane Nicole will proceed across central and northern Florida and into southern Georgia on Thursday and Thursday night. After that, Nicole will continue toward the Carolinas.
The most recent information we have is that Nicole killed four people, all of whom lived in Orange County, Florida.
