The second-latest hurricane to make landfall in the United States was Hurricane Nicole, which made landfall early on Thursday as a Category 1 storm over the east coast of Florida. At 3 a.m., the storm made landfall just south of Vero Beach. As Nicole raced inland across Florida at 4 a.m., it was downgraded to a Tropical Storm.
The unusual hurricane in November had already prompted authorities to urge evacuations, including of former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago property, and to close airports and amusement parks.
The storm surge from Nicole, according to authorities, could significantly erode many of the beaches that Hurricane Ian damaged in September. Later on Thursday and Friday, the wide-ranging storm is predicted to move into Georgia and the Carolinas and drop a lot of rain there.
Nicole had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was a Category 1 storm when it made landfall at 3 in the morning (120 kph). The storm was located around 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of Fort Pierce. It was traveling west-northwest at around 22 km/h (14 mph).
Winds equivalent to a tropical storm reached distances of up to 485 miles (780 km) from the center. Nicole’s remnants will move up the coast and may bring heavy rain to certain areas on Friday night into Saturday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hurricane Nicole made landfall in the Bahamas, the first hurricane to do so since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that wreaked havoc on the archipelago in 2019.
