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After hitting Florida, Hurricane Nicole is downgraded to a tropical storm

O hurricane nicole lost strength and was relegated to a tropical storm this Thursday (10), shortly after reaching the east coast of Florida in the United States, with a mixture of rain and strong winds, said the US National Weather Service.

Nicole had threatened coastal areas still recovering from the last major storm six weeks ago.

an alert from drilling had been sent to a stretch of coastline of about 385 kilometers that included the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, where the new lunar rocket from the NASA it was exposed to the elements and docked on its launch pad to weather the storm.

Nicole was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm as it moved inland off the coast of Florida on Thursday.

The storm, which officially made landfall at 5:00 am ET, had sustained winds of up to 120 km/h as it made landfall on Florida’s east coast, north of Miami, the National Hurricane Center said. Speeds later dropped to 112 km/h.

The hurricane center had issued storm warnings for much of Florida’s Atlantic coast, warning that wind-driven waves would wash away beaches and move inland to inundate low-lying areas far beyond the coast.

The storms wreaked havoc along the state’s Gulf Coast and its East Coast when Hurricane Ian made landfall on September 28 and crossed the Florida Peninsula into the Atlantic, causing damage estimated at $60 billion and killing more than 140 people. people.

Nicole was expected to have less impact than Ian, which hit Florida as a major Category 4 storm. Authorities warned, however, that Nicole still posed a major threat, especially to coastal structures and foundations weakened by Ian.

“Dozens and dozens” of waterfront buildings in Volusia County, including high-rise condominiums, have been declared structurally unsafe since Ian, with some now “in imminent danger of collapsing” due to further erosion of the coast, the sheriff said. Mike Chitwood.

“Last chance”

Volusia was one of several coastal counties where authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders or advised residents of seaside communities and barrier islands to seek higher ground.

“This is the last window of opportunity to protect their families and their property and possibly save some lives,” Chitwood said in a video posted online Wednesday.

State officials opened 15 emergency shelters across the region, activated 600 National Guard troops and put 1,600 utility workers on standby to restore power lost by the storm.

More than a dozen school districts were closed Wednesday, and more than 20 school districts across the state were scheduled to close on Thursday. Orlando International Airport announced it was ending commercial operations on Wednesday afternoon.

Even before reaching hurricane strength, the storm unleashed “extensive flooding” across much of the Bahamas, including the islands of Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Andros and Abacos, National Emergency Management Agency chief Stephen Russell said in a statement. press interview.

The storm was declared a hurricane on Wednesday night when it first made landfall on the island of Grand Bahama in the northwest corner of the Atlantic West Indies archipelago.

Nicole was expected to slow down as it moves over Florida, then head north over the next two days, past Georgia and the Carolinas.

(With information from Jasper Ward in Nassau; Sandra Stojanovic in Daytona Beach, Florida; Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Rich McKay in Atlanta; additional writing and reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Edited by Mark Heinrich and Alison Williams)

Source: CNN Brasil

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