Florida under emergency as tropical storm Nicole batters cities with high winds, heavy rain after landfall

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Beaches up and down the East Coast were inundated with high surf, and many were also littered with debris in Volusia County, where erosion is eating away at oceanfront properties, Volusia County Emergency Management announced in a press release. County Sheriff Mike Chitwood ordered the closure of all bridges to the beachside except essential personnel while also announcing a curfew.

Also, at least 19 hotel or condominium buildings and 40 single-family homes had been compromised by erosion along Volusia County beaches, till then. “If you go anywhere near the beach, you’re putting your life in danger," Tammy Malphurs, deputy chief of beach safety and ocean rescue for Volusia County, said in a news conference.

Daytona Beach officials urged residents of more than a dozen buildings — many of them high-rises — to evacuate on Thursday due to the storm. Residents of vulnerable properties were told to gather their possessions and leave as emergency workers went door to door to sound the alarm. Daytona Beach rental home manager Krista Dowling Goodrich, reportedly said beachfronts were quickly eroding behind some properties as occupants scrambled to flee.

Nicole became the first hurricane to make landfall in November in the US in 37 years when it slammed into the Sunshine State early Thursday, meteorologists said as per a report in the New York Post, while 22 waterfront structures in Wilbur-by-the-Sea were evacuated after local officials deemed them unsafe, so no one was injured, according to Fox 35.

Hurricane Nicole made landfall at 3 am as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening into a tropical storm. The wild weather led to a state of emergency being declared in Florida, with 600 National Guard personnel at the ready, as per the report.

Disney World and Universal Orlando both shut on early Wednesday and said they would remain closed through Thursday as the storm rolled across the state. Many airports of Florida, including Orlando International, also ceased operations on Wednesday and Thursday in view of the incoming storm. Both Miami International and Fort Lauderdale airports remained open but several flights were delayed and canceled.