Florida officials announced on Tuesday that multiple counties have been issued mandatory evacuations as the state prepares for Tropical Storm Nicole to make landfall as early as Wednesday morning.
According to National Hurricane Center (NHC), Category 1 hurricane Nicole is expected to hit Florida at about 1am on Thursday.
The NHC tweeted that parts of Florida and Georgia would see tropical storm conditions early Wednesday. This includes strong winds and high waves caused by a brewing hurricane — all signs which point towards an intense rainstorm later this week.
4 pm EST: #Nicole beginning to strengthen and expected to become a hurricane on Wednesday. See Key Messages below and visit https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ for details. pic.twitter.com/nGevzgOMtI
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 8, 2022
Volusia County, which surrounds the greater Daytona Beach area was the first to receive evacuation orders on Tuesday afternoon. The order requires that all residents start to leave at 9am and everyone must be gone by 4pm.
North of Volusia County, there are also mandatory evacuation zones being ordered in Flager County, as well as zones along the coast in Brevard and Palm Beach counties.
On Tuesday, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) also issued a state of emergency in 34 counties and announced that they are “closely monitoring” the storm.
The division is also continuing to support Floridians who are still recovering from the devastation Hurricane Ian left behind.
The Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) said that it is preparing for widespread power outages ahead of the tropical storm, stating that “following Hurricane Ian’s widespread destruction just a few weeks ago, Nicole has the potential to topple storm-weakened trees throughout FPL’s service area, especially in the western and central part of Florida.”