South Florida is feeling the effects of Hurricane Nicole. NBC 6’s Willard Shepard and Kim Wynne have the latest with team coverage of the storm.
Portions of Florida's east coast were feelings impacts from Nicole Wednesday as the system strengthened into a hurricane and was set to make landfall.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet that storm surge from Nicole had already breached the sea wall along Indian River Drive, which runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Martin County Sheriff's office also said seawater had breached part of a road on Hutchinson Island.
Residents in several Florida counties — Flagler, Palm Beach, Martin and Volusia — were ordered to evacuate such barrier islands, low-lying areas and mobile homes. Volusia, home to Daytona Beach, imposed a curfew and warned that intercoastal bridges used by evacuees would close when winds reach 39 mph.
"The surge that is coming forward, there are dozens upon dozens of buildings that have been declared structurally unsafe here along the beach in Volusia County," Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
At Lake Worth Beach, water from the Intracoastal Waterway was coming over the seawall as the weather continued to deteriorate.
In South Florida, Broward County remained under a state of emergency with the storm likely to make landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning as a Category 1 hurricane.
Nicole drew closer to Florida’s east coast Wednesday, bringing strong winds, rain and spectators to Deerfield Beach. Among the onlookers Paul Cook, a photographer from Boca Raton who worked to capture the onset of Nicole.
“I’m just trying to capture the power of Mother Nature here,” said Cook.
That power woke Susan Weiner up early. The tourist was visiting South Florida from New York for her birthday.
“This is a lot of fun,” said Weiner.
When asked if she’s experienced a Tropical Storm before, “Not up close like this,” she said.
The weather also drew out locals, eager to watch the waves.
“I get very excited with the storm coming in,” said Deerfield Beach resident Lisa Gross. “It does something to my body it gets me excited, but I pray for the people in its path and I hope that no one gets hurt.”
At Hollywood Beach, the combination of Nicole storm surge and seasonal king tides left portions of the Broadwalk flooded with seawater and sand.
"Hollywood Beach right now on the Broadwalk, there’s a lot of standing water and sand. It’s not the worst that we’ve ever seen but it’s not really passable right now so we’re asking residents to stay off the barrier island if possible," city communications manager Joann Hussey said.
At Fort Lauderdale Beach, a portion of A1A was left flooded and was closed off by police.
New warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline which was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state.
The concern for life and property echoed across Deerfield Beach and is top of mind for many Floridians still fresh from the impacts of Ian.
The city of Deerfield Beach closed its international fishing Pier as waves crashed into the pier and threat of dangerous storm surge continued.
“This is as good as it gets here in Florida,” said Cook. “I don’t think that it’s too bad yet and when it gets bad I’ll get to safety.”
In Brevard County, Sheriff Wayne Ivey was encouraging residents to finish storm preps as soon as possible Wednesday.
"We got to take this serious, we got to finish our checklist, make sure you’re bringing in all the items outside that can be easily blown by these type of winds,” Ivey said.
Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they were closing early on Wednesday and likely would not reopen as scheduled on Thursday.
Palm Beach International Airport closed Wednesday morning, and Daytona Beach International Airport said it would cease operations. Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., was set to close at 4 p.m.. Further south, officials said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport were experiencing some flight delays and cancellations but both planned to remain open.
At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said winds were the biggest concern and and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power, as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.
“It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.
Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.
Forty-five of Florida’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.
Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie said Floridians should expect possible tornadoes, rip currents and flash flooding.
Early Wednesday, President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts to the approaching storm. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still responding to those in need from Hurricane Ian.
