hurricane nicole travel advisory

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Hurricane NICOLE Advisory Archive

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Hurricane Nicole closes Florida airports as several airlines issue travel alerts

The tropical storm strengthened into a hurricane as it approached the east coast of florida.

Tropical Storm Nicole continues to increase in strength and is expected to make landfall along Florida's east coast early Thursday. AP Photo

Orlando International Airport closed to flights on Wednesday during extreme weather brought in by Hurricane Nicole .

Authorities confirmed that the airport would close to all commercial flights from 4pm local time on Wednesday.

It is not yet known how long the airport, which is the closest to the hugely popular Walt Disney World Resort , will remain out of operation.

“We are reviewing expectations and the actions required with airlines to determine emergency operations plans over the next 24 hours to best judge when the situation will permit operations to resume,” airport authorities said.

“Preparations continue to intensify both inside and outside the terminal at Orlando International Airport as Tropical Storm Nicole currently makes its way towards the east coast of Florida.”

Travellers who were due to fly to or from the airport have been advised to contact airlines for assistance. Tourists are not able to stay overnight at the airport and passengers have been advised to make their own accommodation arrangements ahead of the storm.

Melbourne Orlando International Airport, which is about 80 kilometres south-east of Orlando, is also closing to commercial flights on Wednesday. Authorities announced on Twitter that the airport will close to air traffic at 2pm on Wednesday, with further details on when it will reopen expected soon.

Further south, Palm Beach International Airport also ceased commercial flights on Wednesday morning while Daytona Beach closed in the afternoon with plans to reopen on Friday.

MLB will close at 2pm on Wednesday, November 9 due to Tropical Storm #Nicole . For flight info and updates, please contact your airline. As a reminder, the airport is not a designated shelter location. Stay tuned for updates and stay safe! pic.twitter.com/65zFuTU7GE — Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB) (@FlyMLB) November 8, 2022

American Airlines has issued 20 travel alerts for airports expected to be impacted by the storm. They include Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and others in Florida; George Town, Freeport and others in the Bahamas, Savannah in Georgia and Providenciales in Turks and Caicos.

Southwest issued alerts for 12 airports, Delta did the same for flights to 17 destinations and JetBlue issued travel waivers for flights to eight other destinations in the storm's path.

Passengers scheduled to travel with the largest airline in the US between Wednesday and Sunday to any of the listed airports can change their flights without additional fees.

Emirates , which operates flights between Dubai and Orlando International Airport, has not cancelled any services. A representative for the airline told The National that the storm has not impacted operations.

Walt Disney World Resort — one of the world's most visited resorts — also announced it was closing early as the storm approached. The theme park advised visitors that it was "closely monitoring Hurricane Nicole and making adjustments based on the latest information from the National Weather Service". It is expected to resume operations at noon on Thursday. The neighbouring Universal Orlando Resort closed early on Wednesday, with a weather-dependent phased reopening planned for Thursday.

Storm Nicole formed in the south-western Atlantic on Monday as a subtropical storm, but continued to increase in strength as it whirled towards Florida with winds of 110 kilometres per hour. It had strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane level as it made landfall in Florida on Thursday.

An advisory from The National Hurricane Centre had earlier confirmed: “Nicole is forecast to become a hurricane later today and remain a hurricane when it reaches the east coast of Florida".

Updates on Tropical Storm Nicole Tropical Storm Nicole Sweeps Across Florida

Nicole made landfall as a rare November hurricane, causing flooding and destructive coastal erosion. Several deaths have been linked to the storm.

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• New Smyrna Beach, Fla. stormchasingvideo.com via Associated Press
• Wilbur Beach, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times
• Daytona Beach, Fla. WFTV via Associated Press
• Ft. Pierce, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times
• Daytona Beach, Fla. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
• Vero Beach, Fla. stormchasingvideo.com via Associated Press
• Vero Beach, Fla. Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press
• Broward County, Fla. WSVN via Associated Press
• Ft. Pierce, Fla. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
• Port Orange, Fla. Krista Goodrich via Storyful

Here’s what to know about the storm.

Tropical Storm Nicole swung across the Florida peninsula Thursday after making landfall overnight as a hurricane. The sprawling weather system has battered the state with high winds, heavy rain, erosion and coastal flooding.

The National Hurricane Center said Nicole made landfall at 3 a.m. Eastern time south of Vero Beach, the first hurricane to come ashore on Florida’s Atlantic coast since Katrina in 2005. By evening, the center of the storm was about 40 miles southeast of Tallahassee.

More than 30 million people were under some type of storm-related warning , and more than 300,000 customers in Florida had lost electric power at times on Thursday, mostly in Brevard, Indian River and Volusia Counties along the state’s east coast, according to poweroutage.us , a site that tracks power interruptions. By early evening, the number without power had fallen below 200,000.

Parts of Florida are still recovering from Hurricane Ian, which slammed into the southwestern part of the state as a Category 4 storm in late September.

In other developments:

Four deaths have been attributed to the storm, including two people in Orange County who were electrocuted by a downed power line and two others who crashed on the Florida Turnpike, according to the Sheriff’s Department and mayor of Orange County.

Storm surge and pounding surf have eroded the beach in Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., so badly that many beachfront high-rises have been deemed unsafe and evacuated, and several houses there and in neighboring Wilbur-by-the-Sea have collapsed wholly or partly into the ocean.

Nicole is likely to cause more coastal flooding and possibly some tornadoes as it moves north through Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas over the next two days, forecasters said.

The breach of a sea wall protecting drainage canals in Port Orange, Fla., threatened more than 500 homes with flooding, the mayor said.

Sean Plambeck

The center of Tropical Storm Nicole is now about 40 miles southeast of Tallahassee, Fla., the National Hurricane Center said. Its maximum sustained winds have eased to 40 miles per hour, but it continues to bring heavy rain to parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia.

Zack Wittman

Mary Yoder, left, helped her neighbor Nina Lavigna sort through possessions after Ms. Lavigna’s home in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Fla., was split in half after Hurricane Nicole’s storm surge collapsed the sea wall.

Isabella Grullón Paz

A major coastal Florida road has partially collapsed, leaving residents stranded.

State Road A1A, a highway that runs north to south along the Florida coast and is the main thoroughfare in many beach towns in St. Johns County, has collapsed or flooded in several areas, leaving many residents stranded.

A six- to seven-mile stretch of the narrow A1A was “impassable” and “compromised,” the St. Johns County administrator, Hunter Conrad, said in a news conference on Thursday afternoon. That included roads from Vilano Beach, a quiet coastal town of roughly 2,000 people, up into the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, just south of Jacksonville, he said. Residents were being told to shelter in place by county officials.

“We know that there is significant coastal erosion right on the back of Ian, and now with Nicole coming through, so please be careful, please stay safe,” Mr. Conrad said.

Officials did not mention any major injuries or deaths, but there were a “number of rescues” on the highway in areas where it had collapsed, Jeff Prevatt, the fire rescue chief for St. Johns County, said in the news conference.

The Florida Department of Transportation is trying to repair the damaged parts of A1A and remove large chunks of debris and asphalt, Greg Caldwell, the public works director for St. Johns County, said at the conference. The current priority is to repair roads before the next high tide at 9 p.m., and then fix them for “full access through the area” later on, Mr. Caldwell added.

Mark Fetz, 43, a resident of Vilano Beach, said this was the first time he had experienced such a collapse, but he added that there were signs that it would happen.

After Hurricane Ian, he said, much of the dunes protecting A1A, the only way in and out of Vilano Beach, had been compromised. Sand bags were usually placed along the highway before big storms to mitigate the damage, but strong storms last year sucked away much of the protective infrastructure, Mr. Fetz said. Nicole was no different.

“All the dunes — all the shore — that was protecting that highway is gone and the ocean is basically lapping up against the highway,” Mr. Fetz said. “Now it’s probably going to take weeks and millions of dollars to fix if they’re going to do it right.”

More than 14,000 residents were without power in St. John’s County as of Thursday afternoon. Mr. Fetz said he was one of the few people in his neighborhood with the lights still on. He said his biggest concern was the many older residents who live on Vilano Beach, who can’t leave their homes and have to depend on “whatever is in their refrigerator” while the road is being fixed.

The number of storm-related deaths has grown to four people, according to Mayor Jerry L. Demings of Orange County. Two people died in the Orlando area on Thursday morning after coming into contact with a power line downed by the storm; two other individuals died in a crash on the Florida Turnpike. The Florida Highway Patrol was investigating, the mayor said.

Left exposed by Ian, Daytona Beach Shores gets a knockout blow from Nicole.

Storm surge and pounding surf from Tropical Storm Nicole have eroded the beach in Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., so badly that beachfront high-rises have been deemed unsafe and evacuated, and several houses have toppled into the ocean.

Mayor Nancy Miller said on Thursday that at least 19 ocean-facing condominium buildings were found to be compromised over the past day, as the storm tore away at the sand and sea walls along the shore. Later, the list grew to 23, as more buildings were deemed unsafe.

Daytona Beach Shores, a small barrier beach community whose permanent population of 5,100 doubles with winter visitors as the high season starts in November, has around 60 high-rise condominiums, one of which is a combined hotel and residence. The town had only just started to recover from Hurricane Ian, which caused significant erosion that left the community exposed when Nicole approached.

“Ian did the initial damage, and this was just on top of that,” Ms. Miller said. “If this had been a stand-alone storm, we still would have had property damage, but not as much as we see together.”

The Daytona Beach Shores City Council issued a mandatory evacuation for the barrier island on Monday, but most residents of the oceanfront buildings did not heed it, Ms. Miller said. “They waited until someone came knocking on their door, saying it was unsafe and that they needed to get out.”

Volusia County sheriff’s deputies went door to door on Wednesday and evacuated 200 people from vulnerable buildings. As the storm moved out and the tide receded on Thursday, it became clear that more condos were in peril, Ms. Miller said, and more than 300 additional people were evacuated.

Daytona Beach Shores did not have much time for restoration work between the two storms. Ms. Miller said the beach, which is managed by the county, had not yet been replenished, nor had condos with damaged sea walls been able to do much to repair them.

“Unfortunately, most of the action they took probably bought them a couple hours,” Ms. Miller said of the efforts in general. “Most of that repair is gone.”

She said the town’s chief building inspector started visiting every coastline property on Thursday as soon as the morning high tide subsided. Two town inspectors and an engineer and inspector from the county were going over the compromised buildings in detail, and some state experts were due to arrive on Friday to help, the mayor said. “We want to make sure we’re doing our due diligence in these buildings before we let anybody back in,” Ms. Miller said.

“I’ve been driving down the A1A, getting out periodically and creeping to the back of buildings to look over,” Ms. Miller said, referring to the main coastal highway. From the street side, everything may look normal, she said, but go around the back, “and then you see what’s going on.”

Ms. Miller said she never imagined she would be looking at storm damage of this magnitude.

“I’m just devastated,” she said. “No drone or pictures can prepare you for what you see.”

Joe Capozzi

An oceanfront town in Florida was ‘pumping water in a circle’ when the sea surged.

Tidal surges fueled by Hurricane Nicole in Palm Beach County, Fla., damaged several homes in the seaside town of Briny Breezes, a mobile home community, and caused severe flooding overnight Thursday in parts of Ocean Ridge.

No homes were damaged in Ocean Ridge, an affluent town where floodwaters receded by morning and the streets were dry by afternoon. But Chief Richard Jones of the Ocean Ridge Police Department said many parts of town experienced serious damage overnight from 2-foot storm surges and king tides.

At least six streets were underwater late Wednesday night “to the point that they were impassable by police vehicles,” he said.

“We were using maintenance trucks to access areas to check on people, and at one point, Coconut Lane and Hudson Avenue became impassable even with the maintenance trucks,” he said.

There were no reports of flooding inside homes in Ocean Ridge. “We had some that were within inches,” Chief Jones said, “but we had no flooding.”

Briny Breezes, immediately south of Ocean Ridge, was not as fortunate.

“There were homes down there that were entirely flooded,” said Chief Jones, whose police department provides public safety services for Briny Breezes.

Compounding the flood problems was a malfunctioning transformer that cut power to homes on the west side of town, north of the marina. That also meant that water pumps on which the town usually relies were not working.

“But even if the pumps had worked,” Chief Jones said, “I mean, water was overtopping the sea walls. There is literally no way it would have mattered.”

Police officers arrived in Briny Breezes just after dawn and “attempted to help them set up large scale pumps,” Chief Jones said. “But when high tide returned this morning at 10:30, it was back over the sea wall again and we were literally just pumping water in a circle so ended up calling it off.”

Chief Jones said he plans to ask the Ocean Ridge Town Commission to consider investing in a high-water rescue vehicle to prepare in case the town ever takes a direct hit from a hurricane.

“If this would have been a storm of any significance beyond what this was and people did not evacuate, there would have been absolutely no way we could have gotten to some of these people’s houses,” Chief Jones said. “We are going to have to do something.”

Houses were severely damaged or destroyed after storm surge from Nicole collapsed the sea wall in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Fla.

Tropical Storm Nicole is moving northwest up Florida's Gulf Coast with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm is expected pass over Georgia tonight and through the Southeast U.S. on Friday. Tropical-force winds still extend up to 175 miles from its center.

Johnny Diaz

As Nicole cleanup starts, health officials advise Floridians on what to wear.

As residents began to clean up and make repairs after Nicole barreled through Florida on Thursday, health officials in the state had a few savvy tips on what Floridians should wear to help protect against injuries.

For head covering, residents should wear a hard hat, complemented by goggles to protect the eyes, headphones to shield their ears and N-95 masks to filter the air they breathe, the Florida Department of Health in Orange County advised on Thursday in a brochure offering safety tips. The brochure included a drawing that depicted the look and advised “What to wear when cleaning up debris and household waste after a disaster.”

Officials also recommend donning a long-sleeved shirt and heavy-work gloves to avoid cuts while gathering debris and household waste. Rounding out the recommendations on disaster attire are long pants, with rubber boots when cleaning up sewage or steel-toed boots for other cleanup work.

In the event of cuts, the department recommends to “immediately clean all open wounds with soap and water’’ and wrap those wounds with waterproof bandages.

More critically, the department urged people not to handle downed power lines as they go about trying to return to normal. “To prevent electrocution in wet areas, turn power off at the main breaker,’’ the department said.

The urgency of that message was underscored by fatalities attributed to the storm in the state. Two people died on Thursday morning in the Orlando area after they were electrocuted by a downed power line.

More than 500 homes in Port Orange, Fla., were at risk of flooding after a critical dam was swept away in the storm. Mayor Don Burnette said the seawall protecting the Cambridge Canal system, which drains water out of the neighboring community, had been breached. Water levels are 8 feet higher than normal in the area, he said. Port Orange was still recovering from flood damage from Hurricane Ian along the Halifax River, Mr. Burnette said. More than 1,200 homes had moderate to severe flooding from that storm.

Jasper Williams-Ward

Abaco Island in the Bahamas, where the storm first crossed land on Wednesday, saw extensive flooding but minimal new damage, officials said. “We have been protected for the most part, having not seen any serious damage or injuries or fatalities,” the country’s deputy prime minister, Chester Cooper, told reporters on Abaco Thursday.

Though Nicole largely spared the island, signs of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 are still visible. Houses and business structures in some parts of Abaco still lack the windows or roofs they lost in Dorian.

Abigail Geiger

A trainee pilot’s plans to take flight are buffeted by back-to-back hurricanes.

In Vero Beach, just north of where Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, Rebecca Rzeszotko, 18, was among the locals curious to see how the waterfront had fared from the battering of strong winds and storm surge on Thursday.

At Riverside Park, which sits on the western side of a barrier island, Ms. Rzeszotko found that the Indian River had risen over its banks and flooded at least 10 feet inland.

Ms. Rzeszotko said her own house was spared by Nicole, though the water rose high in her yard, too.

When asked about the strength of the winds, Ms. Rzeszotko replied: “I think they reached 50 knots — or, wait, 57 miles per hour.”

“Sorry, I’m learning to be a pilot, so I think in knots,” she added.

By comparison, pilots are recommended to fly in crosswinds no greater that 17 knots, or 19 m.p.h., Ms. Rzeszotko said.

Ms. Rzeszotko said she was supposed to start flying this week, but Nicole foiled her plans.

“The same thing happened six weeks ago when the other hurricane hit — I’m starting to take it as a sign,” she said.

A downed power line killed two people in the Orlando area.

Two people died in the Orlando area after coming into contact with a power line downed by the storm on Thursday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. They appeared to be the first deaths in Florida that were attributed to the storm.

At about 9:30 a.m., deputies responded to the intersection of Bayfront Parkway and Pershing Avenue, where a man was found dead after he had gotten out of a car and made contact with a power line, the Sheriff’s Office said.

A woman who had been traveling with the man was also electrocuted and was transported to an area hospital where she died, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Their names, ages and place of residence were not immediately disclosed on Thursday.

In light of the deaths, the Sheriff’s Office said it was “urging all of our residents and visitors to use extreme caution if they are outside in the wake of the storm today.”

“Never touch a downed power line,’’ the Sheriff’s Office added. “If you are driving and see a downed power line, change directions immediately.”

Two people died in the Orlando area Thursday after coming into contact with a power line downed by the storm, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office said a man was found dead at the scene, and a woman who was with him died later at a hospital, both from electrocution. The man had apparently gotten out of a vehicle, deputies said.

Eric Adelson

With Ian’s scars still fresh, people in Orlando stay wary about Nicole.

ORLANDO, Fla. — It all looked so frustratingly familiar Thursday morning: the downed tree limbs, the leafy debris, the wind-whipped puddles and rivulets of water in the streets.

The worry is similar, too: Will this storm bring more flooding?

Orlando residents are hoping Nicole won’t wreak the level of destruction they saw six weeks ago from Hurricane Ian. As of midday Thursday, Nicole had yielded about five inches of rain — enough to cause trouble, but nothing like the foot or more that Ian drenched the landscape with. Lake Davis, in a residential area near downtown Orlando, had so far not risen as much as it did in late September, when it overflowed its banks and poured knee-high water into some houses.

“We were lucky we didn’t flood,” said Jennifer Howell, 40, who ventured out near the lake a little before noon on Thursday. “Our neighborhood flooded last time — very significantly.”

That does not mean residents’ worries are over. The worst flooding from Ian only became apparent hours after the most intense winds had passed. People like Ms. Howell who have lived in the area for a while knew it was too soon to relax.

“I was here in 2004 when we had back-to-back storms,” she said. “It feels a little like that.”

Still, it felt calm enough Thursday morning for her to take a short walk with her children.

“We were just saying, ‘Bye Nicole!’” she said with half a smile. “It’s on its way out.”

Judson Jones

Thirty-nine river gauges in the storm-affected area are reporting flooding. Eight are reporting major flooding in northeast Florida, especially around Jacksonville along the St. Johns River. Others are near river mouths up and down the coast from Wilmington, N.C., to Miami.

As the storm continues to eat away at Florida’s coastline, several houses in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, an unincorporated community in the Daytona Beach area, have collapsed into the sea and “a few more are imminent,” said Nancy Maddox, a spokeswoman for nearby Daytona Beach Shores. She said she’d never seen erosion like that in the area before today. “The ocean is angry,” she said.

Nicole, now centered just northeast of Tampa, continues to bring damaging winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge as it gradually weakens. The storm's center is likely to move offshore into the Gulf of Mexico before turning entirely to the north tonight. But National Hurricane Center forecasters say Nicole "is not expected to be over water long enough for significant re-intensification.”

Patricia Mazzei

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said that Hurricane Ian had left some parts of the state vulnerable to Nicole: “This is obviously not as significant a storm as Hurricane Ian was, but coming on the heels of that, you’re seeing communities, particularly in the Volusia County area where you had a lot of erosion along the coastline. This has put some of those structures in jeopardy.”

Daniel Victor

Nicole, which remains a large tropical storm as it moves west across Florida, is now centered about 30 miles northeast of Tampa, the National Hurricane Center said in its 10 a.m. update. Maximum sustained winds have weakened to 50 miles per hour, but the storm continues to deliver heavy rains.

All causeways throughout Brevard County are open, according to the Brevard County Emergency Management Office. Though they might be closed down for inspection after the storm, they are open along with other major roadways.

Derrick Bryson-Taylor

As the sun rose on Thursday morning, many Floridians began to survey the damage left by Nicole. In Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, a large section of a well-known pier was swept into the ocean.

“The center of it, there’s nothing there,” said Peggy Mohler, a manager at the Aruba Beach Cafe, a nearby restaurant that was not damaged. “It’s very sad that this happened,” she said. “I’ve never seen waves like I saw last night.”

More than 319,000 customers are without power across Florida, mostly along the state’s east coast, according to PowerOutage.us . Brevard County has been hit the hardest.

Share of customers without power by county

The next high tide cycle is approaching over the next two hours for some of the areas in Florida hardest hit by coastal erosion, and storm surge is still a threat for this region.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne said the worst water levels have likely passed for the Treasure Coast, though high tide could still cause problems in some areas. However, in Brevard and Volusia Counties, this next high tide will likely be the worst impact from the surge the counties have encountered, they said.

Nicole is now centered over central Florida about 30 miles southwest of Orlando, the National Hurricane Center said in its 7 a.m. update . Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 60 miles per hour.

Derrick Bryson Taylor and Judson Jones

After crossing Florida, Nicole will move up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain.

Tropical Storm Nicole, which hit the east coast of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane early Thursday, was expected to bring heavy rain from the Carolinas to New England through the weekend, meteorologists said.

After crossing Central Florida on Thursday, Nicole was predicted to emerge over the far northeastern Gulf of Mexico and then move across the Florida Panhandle, according to the National Hurricane Center .

Nicole will move across Georgia and South Carolina on Friday and then farther north, David Roth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center, said on Thursday.

As Nicole moves through the Southeast, it’s likely to bring tornadoes across the region.

“A few tornadoes are expected during the day from northern Florida into eastern Georgia and South Carolina, and possibly overnight into southern North Carolina,” according to an update early Thursday from the Storm Prediction Center.

Tornadoes are common in hurricanes and are often relatively weak and short-lived, but they can still pose a significant threat if one strikes a populated area.

“By time we get to Friday night and into Saturday, the low pressure system associated with the storm is expected to be accelerating up the Appalachians,” before reaching New England by Sunday, Mr. Roth said.

5-day rainfall forecast

Five-day rainfall forecast

While heavy rain and strong winds from Nicole were a concern for many Floridians, other states in the storm’s path will mainly get rain.

Nicole will likely be downgraded to a tropical depression as it moves over Georgia, Mr. Roth said.

“The forecast is for two to four inches, with local amounts of six inches, as it moves through the southeast Appalachians,” he said. Parts of the Northeast and New England could see lower amounts.

Since the storm was expected to be a rain maker, there was a slight risk of excessive rainfall from the Southeast to New York, according to the Weather Prediction Center .

“The worry is that there could be some hourly rain totals of an inch, inch and a half, which over a few hours could overwhelm” urban areas or places with high elevations, Mr. Roth said.

Once the warmer, tropical-like rainy weather from Nicole pushes through the Northeast, a colder air mass will move across the East, dropping high temperatures well below average on Sunday.

Right after low tide this morning and as Nicole was moving ashore, a tide gauge at Port Canaveral, Fla., recorded its highest water level of the storm and crossed briefly into what is considered by NOAA major flooding for this site. It dropped slightly, but is now rising again as the area reaches astronomical high tide. With such a high low tide this morning, the coast hasn't gotten a break from the relentless pounding and coastal erosion.

Orlando International Airport, which shut down on Wednesday, remained closed early Thursday. Other airports in Florida, including those in Tampa, Jacksonville and Palm Beach, were reporting cancellations and delays.

Abigail Geiger and Mike Ives

Nicole brings the threat of widespread coastal flooding.

Potential storm surge flooding

MELBOURNE, Fla. — As Tropical Storm Nicole moved inland across Florida on Thursday morning, it was bringing heavy rains and strong winds, and threatening to raise waters to dangerous levels along the state’s coastline.

On Wednesday, even before Nicole made landfall in the Bahamas, the storm had breached a few sea walls in Martin and St. Lucie Counties in Florida. There were also scattered reports of flooding in Palm Beach County.

As Nicole moved across east-central Florida before dawn on Thursday, it was weakening but still producing maximum sustained winds of about 70 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said . Forecasters predicted several inches of rain in the state, along with large and destructive waves near the landfall site, south of Vero Beach.

“At this point the event’s kind of winding down for us,” Shawn Bhatti, a meteorologist at the Weather Service’s office in Miami, about 150 miles south of Vero Beach, said by phone a few hours before dawn. “Maybe not so much for the rest of Florida.”

Forecasters said that they did not expect Nicole’s impacts to be anywhere close to those of Hurricane Ian, which left a trail of devastation in September after hitting western Florida as a Category 4 storm. Many of the evacuation orders issued along the state’s Atlantic Coast on Wednesday were not mandatory.

Still, because Nicole’s wind field stretched for hundreds of miles, a primary concern was that the storm could raise water levels along the coastlines of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

“It has a big envelope of water it’s pushing out ahead out of it,” said Tim Sedlock, a meteorologist at the Weather Service office in Melbourne, Fla. “So it’s going to affect a large area.”

Mr. Sedlock said that he expected to see coastal waters rise to three to six feet along some parts of the Florida coast. He said rapid beach erosion could potentially topple some coastal structures, particularly in the Daytona Beach area.

James Swan, 49, a former Florida resident who now lives in Utah, has been in Port Canaveral this week to attend his son’s wedding on Friday.

Around 2:15 a.m. on Thursday, he said, he decided to drive inland with his wife along a route that included a coastal byway and a causeway.

Normally the causeway, which crosses the Indian River and connects a barrier island with Florida’s mainland, is idyllic. But this time the conditions forced Mr. Swan’s car to hydroplane.

“Driving on the causeway with the wind and everything was, phew, something else,” he said.

The couple made it to a hotel further inland, between Melbourne and Palm Bay, minutes before the hurricane made landfall.

Judson Jones and Mike Ives

Rivers swollen by Hurricane Ian could see renewed flooding from Nicole.

Heavy rains were falling over Florida early Thursday, as meteorologists warned of the potential for renewed flooding in areas deluged by excessive rainfall during Hurricane Ian.

Several inches of rain were expected in the state through Saturday. The Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said that the highest totals would likely be in an area between Cape Canaveral and Lake Okeechobee that was “pretty hard hit” by Ian, a giant storm that slammed into Western Florida as a Category 4 hurricane in September.

A renewed rise on the St. John’s River, which runs roughly parallel to parts of Florida’s Atlantic coast, was also possible across the state on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said in a 4 a.m. advisory .

Some areas near the river were flooded after Hurricane Ian and still have very high water levels, Tim Sedlock, a meteorologist at the Weather Service office in Melbourne, Fla., said by phone early Thursday morning.

“Any additional rain at all will obviously create additional flooding problems,” he said.

But there is good news: Experts expected Nicole’s brisk forward speed — 14 miles per hour as of 4 a.m. — to lessen the amount of rain that falls across the region.

The predicted totals “are nowhere near the magnitude of rainfall that occurred during Hurricane Ian in part because of the speed of the storm,” Todd Hamill, a service coordination hydrologist with the National Weather Service, said in an interview. “And fortunately, Florida has had a pretty dry six weeks since the storm.”

However, the threat of flash flooding was still possible across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said, adding that 3 to 5 inches of rain, with an isolated maximum of 8 inches, could fall in some parts of the state by Saturday.

Slightly lower totals were expected in other parts of the southeastern United States, the Northern Mid-Atlantic and New England.

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November 9, 2022 Hurricane Nicole news

By Amir Vera , CNN

Where things stand with Hurricane Nicole as of 10 p.m. Wednesday

From CNN's Amir Vera and Gene Norman

After wreaking havoc in northwestern Bahamas Wednesday, Hurricane Nicole is poised to move onshore the east coast of Florida late Wednesday or early Thursday, according to a 10 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center .

The storm is currently 75 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida, moving west-northwest at 13 mph, the center said. Nicole has sustained winds of 75 mph.

"Nicole's center is then expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia Thursday and Thursday night, and into the Carolinas Friday," the hurricane center said.

NHC notes that Nicole will bring “strong winds, dangerous storm surge and heavy rains and that large intense bands extend quite far from the center." Also, they stress that “Nicole is a large storm whose hazards extend well north of the center, outside the forecast cone.”

Nicole is expected to make landfall in Florida around 1 a.m. ET. The storm is expected to weaken as it moves across Florida into the southeastern US, and is "likely to become a post-tropical cyclone by Friday afternoon," the center said.

Wind and storm surge from the storm has already led officials to deem buildings unsafe or at the risk of collapse . Universities and amusement parks have also closed operations in preparation for Nicole's landfall. Airlines canceled thousands of flights to prepare as well.

Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded his state of emergency -- originally for 34 counties -- to include 11 additional counties to prepare for Nicole.

Volusia County officials deem 22 single homes unsafe

From Denise Royal and Leyla Santiago

As Hurricane Nicole approaches , upcoming high tides and coastal erosion are a big concern in Volusia County at this hour, according to Kevin Captain, Volusia spokesperson. 

Volusia County officials deemed 22 single homes unsafe in the unincorporated area Wilbur-by-the-Sea . All of the homes were evacuated.

"Those buildings that were deemed unsafe are directly correlated to some of the coastal erosion that we've experienced," he said, acknowledging that Hurricane Ian left the coast vulnerable when it struck six weeks ago. 

 "It [Hurricane Ian] hammered our coast. It took away our buffer, meaning all of that sand that we had as a protective layer, we lost," he said. "So when you remove that buffer and now you (add) another storm on top of that, it's a problem and recipe for disaster."

Captain said about 60 individuals were in county shelters. 

He urged people to stay off the beach, referencing a tourist who died during Hurricane Ian when she went outside, fell and drowned on the beach. 

Volusia County officials expect the damage assessment to begin tomorrow.

Condos in New Smyrna Beach deemed unsafe due to the erosion of a seawall

From CNN’s Joe Sutton

Authorities in New Smyrna Beach are asking residents this evening to evacuate condo buildings that have been deemed unsafe due to the erosion of a sea wall. 

“The Las Brisas condo buildings (3001 Hill Street) that are facing the beach are now deemed unsafe by the NSB building department due to the erosion of the sea wall. Residents are urged to evacuate. NSBPD is currently on scene offering assistance,” a post from the New Smyrna Police on  Facebook  said. 

CNN has reached out to New Smyrna Beach officials to get more details.

City officials later said they identified at least two buildings that are now deemed unsafe as Hurricane Nicole approaches the east coast of Florida. 

“The City of New Smyrna Beach’s chief building official has deemed the two easterly oceanfront buildings of Las Brisas condominiums, 3001 Hill St., unsafe due to the dune washing up to within 10 feet of the structure,” the city said in a news release Wednesday evening. 

The city went on to say “New Smyrna Beach Police Department officers arrived on scene at 5:45 p.m. to notify residents and assist them in evacuating the premises, which most safely did.”

The city has also issued a curfew which is  in effect until 7 a.m. ET . City officials are closing the North and South Causeway bridges at 8 p.m. ET.

New Smyrna Beach is located in Volusia County and is about 11 miles south of Daytona Beach Shores. 

Other buildings in Florida are at risk of collapsing as Hurricane Nicole nears, officials say.

In Daytona Beach Shores , authorities said at least six buildings were deemed at risk of structural collapse Wednesday. Five others were previously evacuated due to risk of collapse, according to Michael Fowler, Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department director.

Hurricane Nicole brings dangerous storm surge and strong winds to Grand Bahama Island

From CNN's Haley Brink

Nicole remains a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center . The hurricane continues to bring dangerous storm surge and strong winds to Grand Bahama Island, the hurricane center said.

A storm surge of 4 to 6 feet is expected along the immediate coast of the northwestern Bahamas as Nicole continues to track over the islands.

“Hurricane-force winds extend outward 10 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 485 miles from the center especially to the north of the center,” the hurricane center said. “A Mesonet observation site on Freeport, Grand Bahama Island recently reported a wind gust to 61 mph.”

Nicole continues to track west at 13 mph and is 20 miles east-northeast of Freeport, Bahamas, and 100 miles west of Palm Beach, Florida.

“Little change in strength is expected this evening, and Nicole is forecast to remain a hurricane until it reaches the east coast of Florida tonight or early Thursday,” the hurricane center said.

Universities across Florida will close Thursday ahead of Hurricane Nicole

From CNN’s Sara Smart

As Hurricane Nicole makes its way toward Florida as a Category 1 hurricane , colleges and universities across the state are closing and canceling classes.

Florida State University , the University of Florida , the University of Central Florida , and the University of North Florida will close on Thursday, November 10.

The University of South Florida will move all classes remotely on Thursday, and the campus will remain closed.

11 buildings in Florida are at risk of structural collapse as Hurricane Nicole approaches

Authorities in Daytona Beach Shores fear that at least six buildings in their city are at risk of collapse as Hurricane Nicole approaches the coast.

At least six buildings were deemed at risk of structural collapse Wednesday, Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department Director Michael Fowler told CNN. 

Fowler noted these buildings had sustained damage during Hurricane Ian and beach erosion is undermining the buildings. 

Previously, Fowler said there were five other buildings that were evacuated due to the risk of collapse, which was the result of Hurricane Ian . 

In total, 11 buildings are at risk of collapse. 

Daytona Beach Shores is located in Volusia County.

Flood warning in effect for St. Johns River in Florida

A flood warning is in effect until further notice for the St. Johns River near Astor and Deland in Florida, according to the National Weather Service office in Melbourne .

“The forecast point at Astor is rising quickly due to north to northeast winds causing a backup of levels at the southern end of Lake George,” the weather service said. “The forecast point at Deland is currently rising quickly due to a combination of northeast winds and 1 to 2 inches of rainfall that has already fallen associated with Hurricane Nicole.”

The river gauge at Astor is quickly approaching major flood stage (4 feet) and is forecast to crest at 4.2 feet early Thursday morning. At 4 feet, “major flooding occurs, with water entering the first story of many homes and businesses along the river,” according to the weather service. “Some roads inaccessible and rescues likely needed.”

The river gauge at DeLand is quickly approaching moderate flood stage (4.8 feet) and is forecast to crest around 4.9 feet on Friday. At 4.8 feet, “water starts to enter low lying buildings around Hontoon Island,” according to the weather service. “Many secondary roads and homes in low lying areas are flooded.”

Both of these river gauges along the St. Johns River have been in flood stage since Hurricane Ian brought flooding rains to the region just six weeks ago.

Nicole strengthens into a hurricane

Nicole has now strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane and has sustained winds of 75 mph, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center .

“Recent observations from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Nicole has strengthened into a hurricane,” the center said.

The storm is currently 25 miles east-northeast of Freeport, Bahamas, and 105 miles to the east of West Palm Beach, Florida. Hurricane Nicole continues to track westward at 12 mph toward Florida’s east coast with an expected landfall after midnight.

Authorities won't "come to drag you out of your house" if residents don't evacuate, Nassau County sheriff says

Authorities in Nassau County, Florida, held a news conference Wednesday afternoon to inform residents of the evacuation orders for portions of the county in anticipation of impacts from Tropical Storm Nicole. 

The evacuation orders were issued for residents who reside in Zones A and D, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said at the news conference.

Zone A includes Amelia Island beaches and low areas, according to the  county evacuation plan . Zone D includes the areas of Nassauville, Blackrock, Pirates Woods and Chester, according to the  county evacuation plan . 

Nassau County is in the northeast corner of Florida along the Atlantic Ocean and Interstate 95, north of Jacksonville.

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Tropical Storm Nicole expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it nears Florida

Tropical Storm Nicole is expected to strengthen to a hurricane Wednesday as it approaches parts of east-central Florida and the Southeast coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Previously a subtropical storm, it was upgraded to a tropical storm Tuesday morning.

The tropical storm was about 395 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, and it was moving west at 10 mph.

“Anywhere in that area, including places like West Palm Beach, Stewart, Melbourne, up to Daytona Beach, anywhere in here is at the risk of hurricane conditions as we are expecting Nicole to take advantage of these warm waters and go on and intensify to a hurricane as it approaches the coast during the next 36 to 48 hours,” the hurricane center’s acting deputy director, Michael Brennan, said in an update Tuesday .

Weather conditions along the state’s east coast are expected to worsen Tuesday night into Wednesday as tropical storm-force winds move inland, he said.

The center of Nicole is expected to approach the northwestern Bahamas on Tuesday and be at or near hurricane strength as it moves near or over the islands Wednesday before it gets to Florida's east coast Wednesday night. The storm is then "expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia Thursday and Thursday night," the hurricane center said.

Nicole is a large storm with winds of 40 mph extending up to 380 miles from the center, meaning its impact could be felt hundreds of miles from the center, especially on the north side of the storm, because of its lopsided nature.

Hurricane conditions, including strong winds, rainfall and storm surge, are expected in the northwestern Bahamas and along Florida's east coast Wednesday, with a tropical storm warning in effect in Georgia along the East Coast, as well.

Tropical storm conditions are also possible on Florida's west coast from Bonita Beach north to the Ochlockonee River and on Georgia's east coast from the Altamaha Sound to the South Santee River in South Carolina, where tropical storm watches have been issued.

Parts of the eastern, central and northern Florida Peninsula, as well as the northwestern Bahamas, could get 3 to 7 inches of rain. Southeast Georgia and parts of South Carolina might get 1 to 4 inches, and heavy rain could spread farther north up the Eastern Seaboard late Thursday into Friday.

"Dangerous storm surge" from 3 to 5 feet is also expected along Florida and Georgia's east coast from North Palm Beach to the Altamaha Sound.

"These areas were significantly impacted, especially central and north Florida, during Hurricane Ian , so there's a lot of vulnerability there along the coast to coastal flooding, significant wave action and storm surge," Brennan said.

A storm surge watch is also in effect south of North Palm Beach down to Hallandale Beach and from the Altamaha Sound in Georgia to the South Santee River in South Carolina.

Flash flooding and urban flooding are also likely across the Florida Peninsula on Wednesday and Thursday because of rises on the St. Johns River.

In the northwest Bahamas, there may be storm surge of 4 to 6 feet above normal tide along the coast.

The east coast of Florida from Boca Raton to Volusia County remains under a hurricane watch, along with islands in the northwestern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama Island and the Abacos.

In Volusia County, residents were preparing for the storm by making sandbags to help reduce flood water damage.

Gov. Ron DeSantis  declared a state of emergency Monday for 34 counties in the path of the storm, including Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Broward, Orange and Sarasota counties.

Palm Beach County, where a local state of emergency was declared Monday, issued a mandatory evacuation for residents who live in mobile home parks, on barrier islands and in low-lying areas, Mayor Robert Weinroth said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

All Palm Beach County health care clinics and district schools will be closed Wednesday and Thursday out of an abundance of caution, officials said.

Brevard County, about two hours north of Palm Beach, has recommended evacuations starting Wednesday morning. The recommendation is for residents living in mobile homes, on barrier islands and in low-lying areas. People with special medical needs that depend on electricity are also encouraged to evacuate.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will not operate tours Wednesday "due to operational restrictions," and it will close Thursday, it said in a statement .

Orlando International Airport and Melbourne Orlando International Airport both announced that they will be closing Wednesday afternoon.

If Nicole hits Florida as a hurricane, it will be only the fourth on record to make landfall in the U.S. during November. Previously, Hurricane Kate and the Yankee Hurricane hit Florida in 1985 and 1935, respectively.

The Bahamian government also issued a warning.

"The late-season storm is a reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet as the Atlantic hurricane season continues through November 30th," the statement read.

Breaking news reporter

Kathryn Prociv is a senior meteorologist and producer for NBC News. 

Watch CBS News

Hurricane watch for Florida counties as subtropical storm Nicole approaches

By Emily Mae Czachor

Updated on: November 7, 2022 / 7:13 PM EST / CBS News

Counties across the eastern coast of Florida are under a hurricane watch as subtropical storm Nicole moves closer to land on Monday, officials said. 

The storm is currently traveling northwest toward the Bahamas at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, which are expected to strengthen as it approaches the islands and then tracks toward Florida's Atlantic Coast, according to an advisory issued Monday afternoon by the National Hurricane Center. Nicole is expected to continue its path toward the Bahamas on Tuesday, and forecasts indicate the center of the storm will either move near or over the islands on Wednesday, the advisory said.

Officials anticipate that Nicole will approach Florida on Wednesday night, according to the hurricane advisory, which noted that a number of counties along the east coast should prepare for possible storm surges and hazardous wind conditions typically associated with tropical storms as early as Tuesday. 

🚨 Mon. 11/7/22 12PM: Storm surge watches are in effect for Brevard, Broward, Duval, Flagler, Indian River, Martin, Nassau, Palm Beach, St. Johns, St. Lucie & Volusia Counties. A storm surge watch means a life-threatening flood of rising water is possible within the next 48 hrs. pic.twitter.com/vApANZdmdG — FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) November 7, 2022

The National Hurricane Center categorizes a subtropical storm as a cyclone with maximum sustained wind surface speeds of at least 39 mph, but forecasts suggest that subtropical storm Nicole could be a hurricane or close to it by the time it arrives in Florida, according to Monday's advisory.

The advisory established a hurricane watch for a vast section of Florida's east coast, spanning more than 200 miles from Volusia County, east of Orlando, to Hallandale Beach, which sits between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, in addition to Lake Okeechobe and the northwestern Bahamas. A storm surge watch beginning at Hallandale Beach applies to areas as far north as Altamaha Sound in Georgia, and a tropical storm watch is in effect for all counties between them without a hurricane warning.

11/7/22 1040AM EST 🛰️ Sat imagery of Subtropical Storm #Nicole shows a disorganized, but broad, hybrid-like structure. Gradual strengthening is forecast the next couple days as the system looks to become fully tropical & approach eastern FL. @NOAASatellites pic.twitter.com/FeOoqw9UUo — NWS Tallahassee (@NWSTallahassee) November 7, 2022

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Monday for 34 eastern counties potentially located along the storm's path. 

"While this storm does not, at this time, appear that it will become much stronger, I urge all Floridians to be prepared and to listen to announcements from local emergency management officials," said DeSantis in a statement. "We will continue to monitor the trajectory and strength of this storm as it moves towards Florida."

Counties across the west coast of Florida were recently hit by Hurricane Ian , which made landfall at the end of September as a powerful, and in some cases, deadly Category 4 hurricane that destroyed buildings and flooded neighborhoods as it moved through the state over the course of several days.

• Ron DeSantis

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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News & features, winter center, news / hurricane, hurricane warning issued in florida as nicole tracks toward storm-weary state.

By Mary Gilbert , AccuWeather meteorologist & Alex Sosnowski , AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Published Nov 6, 2022 9:33 AM PDT | Updated Nov 8, 2022 11:20 AM PDT

A  hurricane warning  was issued along the central part of Florida's east coast on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Nicole churned across the Atlantic and showed signs of further strengthening as it tracked toward the storm-weary state. AccuWeather meteorologists expect this sprawling storm to take a turn and hit Florida’s east coast — as a hurricane — later this week before it takes a run up the Eastern Seaboard.

On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Nicole's arrival.

The Sunshine State faces long-duration impacts from pounding surf, strong winds and torrential rain, and as a result, AccuWeather forecasters have rated Nicole a  1 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes . This scale takes into account the effects of storm surge, coastal erosion, flooding, wind and economic damage, while the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale accounts for wind intensity only.

Nicole will strengthen into a hurricane prior to making landfall along the central Florida coast early Thursday. Impacts could be severe along Florida’s Atlantic coast and over the Florida Peninsula in general.

A hurricane warning was in effect for a large portion of the Florida east coast and the northwestern Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for the northeastern Florida coast as well as part of the Georgia coast.

As of Tuesday midday, Nicole gained a bit of strength since Monday and has transitioned from a subtropical storm to a tropical storm with 50 mph sustained winds. Nicole was spinning 460 miles to the east of West Palm Beach, Florida, and was moving westward at 9 mph.

The combination of Nicole's perpendicular track straight into the Florida Peninsula, a broad area of strong easterly winds from the Atlantic and the astronomical effects of the full moon will hit coastal areas hard from near West Palm Beach to St. Augustine and Jacksonville Beach, forecasters warn.

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Along much of the Florida Atlantic coast and the Georgia coast, conditions could be more severe with Nicole compared to Ian. Tides will continue to trend above normal through Wednesday and into Thursday. A water level rise of several feet is likely near and well north of where the center of the storm moves inland. A broad zone of where a storm surge of 3-6 feet is forecast from near West Palm Beach to near Savannah, Georgia. From near the Space Coast to Daytona Beach the storm surge can be locally higher than 6 feet.

"In coastal areas, especially from the Space Coast of Florida through the Carolinas, tropical-storm-force wind gusts can occur for 36-48 hours straight," AccuWeather Director of Forecasting Operations Dan DePodwin said. "This is a longer duration than typical tropical systems."

Many of the beaches and some of the dunes have been torn up in the wake of Ian's indirect impacts and could be especially vulnerable to a direct assault by a tropical storm or hurricane coming in from the east.

There is a chance the center of the storm could track farther to the south or to the north. A track farther to the south along the eastern coast of Florida could bring more significant impacts in terms of coastal flooding and wind to Fort Lauderdale and Miami while a track more to the north could bring more severe conditions from the Florida Space Coast to the Jacksonville Beach area.

Because of Nicole's projected track and strength while pushing westward across the Florida Peninsula prior to the end of the week, conditions in Ian-ravaged areas of southwestern Florida will be on par with a moderate tropical storm with squally showers and thunderstorms and minimal water level rise.

However, with any tropical system that makes landfall, there is a risk of severe thunderstorms including isolated tornadoes and waterspouts. This risk includes much of the southern and central parts of the Florida Peninsula and Keys.

"It is extremely unusual for tropical storms to hit the east coast of Florida in November," AccuWeather Senior Weather Editor and meteorologist Jesse Ferrell said. "Besides the 1935 Miami Hurricane, the only other storm [to hit Florida's east coast during the month] was an unnamed system in 1946."

Only two hurricanes have struck Florida during the month of November, Ferrell added. Kate crashed into the Florida Panhandle as a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale in November of 1985 -- 50 years after the Miami Hurricane had made landfall in the southeastern part of the state.

This AccuWeather Enhanced RealVue™ satellite shows Subtropical Storm Nicole in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.

Sustained tropical-storm-force winds of 40 mph or greater are likely to reach the Florida east coast as early as Wednesday night. However, gusts of this intensity can occur on Tuesday or Tuesday night, due to the storm's large size.

"The tropical-storm-force winds will extend over a large area - much larger than a standard tropical storm," DePodwin said. Even though power outages may not be severe, sporadic power outages can extend over a broad zone in Florida and the coastal areas of the southeastern U.S. in general.

A broad area of tropical-storm-force winds stretching to nearly three-quarters of a million square miles is likely with Nicole. High winds and stormy seas will extend from the southeast of Bermuda to the northwestern Bahamas and the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States and even into the eastern Gulf of Mexico from the middle to late parts of the week.

The strongest wind gusts will depend on the peak intensity of Nicole but are currently expected to reach between 60 and 80 mph along the eastern coast of Florida with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 100 mph.

"Any hurricane-force winds should remain very close (perhaps within tens of miles) of the center where landfall occurs," DePodwin said.

After Nicole makes landfall, it will take a westward track across at least part of the Florida Peninsula before the system turns to the Northeast late this week.

It is possible that the system will track far enough to the west that much of Nicole's circulation will emerge over the Gulf of Mexico, near Tampa, which could allow the system to strengthen again. If, on the other hand, most of its center remains over land, then strengthening will be limited. AccuWeather forecasters say that stormy conditions will ramp up from Orlando to Tampa on Thursday and continue through Thursday night.

Since Nicole will push across the peninsula for 24-48 hours from Thursday to Friday, heavy rain will be unleashed. A general 4-8 inches of rain is forecast to fall near and north of the storm center with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 15 inches. Rainfall of this intensity is likely to lead to flooding of low-lying areas and significant rises along some of the rivers in the region.

Beyond Florida, Nicole will take a path that roughly parallels the U.S. East Coast and Canadian Atlantic coast from the end of this week through this weekend.

The extent of rain and wind -- including how far inland it will reach -- will be determined by Nicole's proximity to the coastline. Other factors that will play a role in Nicole's impact will be the interaction with a non-tropical storm and a dip in the jet stream.

The non-tropical storm and the jet stream will either steer the center of the storm and keep it moving with the worst effects occurring just offshore of the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, or it will capture Nicole and pull it more to the west. In this case, heavy rain, strong winds and significant coastal impacts can occur.

At this time, AccuWeather meteorologists believe there will be significant impacts along the Georgia and Carolina coasts, southeastern Virginia and southeastern Massachusetts from Nicole as a tropical wind and rainstorm.

Stiff east to northeast winds well ahead of Nicole, regardless of the exact track, will lead to long-duration above-normal tides, coastal flooding and beach erosion this week well to the north of Florida.

AccuWeather meteorologists began  warning that a tropical disturbance could form in the Caribbean  back in the middle of October, highlighting the potential dangers that the U.S. could face.

Hurricane Ian: Road to Recovery

The Atlantic hurricane season officially ends on Nov. 30, but the tropical activity may not stop at Nicole. Already, the final month of the season has been busy. Nicole followed the development of Lisa and Martin , making November notably more active than August , during which no tropical storms were named for only the third time on record.

Indications are that areas from the west-central Atlantic to the Caribbean could remain active during the middle and latter part of November. The next two names on the list that forecasters use to draw attention to tropical systems are Owen and Paula.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you  subscribe to Premium+  on the  AccuWeather app .   AccuWeather Alerts ™  are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.  

Subscribe to AccuWeather on  Apple News .

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Hurricane warnings issued ahead of midweek arrival of Nicole

Tropical Storm Nicole is just shy of hurricane strength late Tuesday night, but hurricane warnings are in place along the east coast ahead of a midweek landfall.

Residents along portions of Florida's east coast are under hurricane warnings Tuesday night ahead of what is forecast to be Hurricane Nicole's arrival early Thursday.

Hurricane warnings extend more than 200 miles, from the Flagler-Volusia County border to Boca Raton. Tropical storm warnings are in place from Hallandale Beach to Boca Raton and areas north of the Flagler-Volusia County border. The areal extent of these warnings goes as far west as I-75 and includes inland cities like Orlando, Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Ocala. Tropical storm watches include Tampa, Fort Myers, and Lake City. Storm surge warnings stretch from the mouth of the St. Marys River to north of Miami. Storm surge warnings include the St. Johns River basin, which was hard hit by Ian in late September. A storm surge watch is in effect for the Big Bend and Nature Coast through the end of the week.

The advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center Tuesday night for Tropical Storm Nicole has maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour. Tropical-storm-force winds, which are 39 to 73 miles per hour, stretch nearly 800 miles across. Nicole has officially begun the track southwest and is moving at approximately 10 miles per hour. Official forecast products from the National Hurricane Center depict a gradual strengthening trend, with Nicole likely becoming a hurricane Wednesday afternoon before making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane between Cape Canaveral and Boca Raton.

Impacts along the east coast of Florida will be significant, especially where hurricane warnings are in place. Hurricane warnings mean that winds of at least 74 miles per hour are expected, with most wind gust forecasts peaking over 100 miles per hour. In areas where tropical storm warnings are in place, tropical-storm-force winds of between 39 and 73 miles per hour are expected Wednesday into Thursday. A tropical storm watch means that tropical-storm-force winds could develop, but certainty in that potential isn't as high as in warning areas. Residents are encouraged to stay updated on the forecast in the coming days, as wind alerts could be expanded slightly over the next 12 to 24 hours. Residents in the Panhandle pay close attention to where exactly Nicole is forecast to go, as impacts there could be more impactful if Nicole emerges over the Gulf of Mexico.

Impacts are forecast to be most intense in coastal areas due to the multi-faceted aspect of storm surge, erosion, and flood potential. Surge forecasts along the east coast of Florida are between three and five feet from the First Coast to the Treasure Coast. Storm surge could be locally higher, especially near and north of where Nicole makes landfall. A number of evacuation orders have been issued along east coast counties, especially in Zones A and B. Storm surge forecasts are maximized along the Space Coast and Treasure Coast, where as much as 5 feet of the surge are possible. The Nature Coast on Florida's west coast could see a local maximum of up to 4 feet. Coastal inundation and flooding are possible, especially along the St. Johns River where flooding from late-September's Hurricane Ian is still ongoing north of Orlando. As a reminder, coastal inundation is possible Thursday and Friday, especially during high tide times.

Rainfall from Nicole will likely be substantial, especially across central Florida where rainfall totals could climb to nearly a half foot. It will not take much for flooding to occur in these areas, as many of these locations are running a surplus from Ian's impact nearly six weeks ago. The Weather Prediction Center has much of the Peninsula under an elevated risk for flash flooding Wednesday and Thursday, as heavy rain associated with Nicole could be too much for drainage systems to withstand.

As with any landfalling tropical system, the risk of a few tornadoes will also be possible. The Day 3 outlook for severe weather issued by the Storm Prediction Center depicts a "marginal" risk from Jacksonville to Miami inland to the Florida Turnpike. This area is where a few tropically-induced tornadoes are possible. Tropical tornadoes tend to be weaker, however, they are well-known for developing quickly and without much-advanced notice. Tornado watches will likely be issued as Nicole makes landfall Wednesday into Thursday.

"It is critical for Floridians to review their disaster preparedness plans and follow all directions from local officials in anticipation of potential impacts," Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said in a press release issued Sunday. Floridians are encouraged to have their hurricane plan in place and to evacuate if told to do so by local officials. Every resident should have multiple ways of getting weather alerts, especially during tropical events where tornadoes could quickly form. The forecast will likely be fine-tuned in the days to come, so monitor additional updates from trusted and reliable sources like the National Hurricane Center.

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Effective September 20, 2022, the COVID-19 testing requirements have been eliminated. All travelers, regardless of vaccination status, are no longer required to submit to pre-travel COVID-19 testing to enter the country

Effective October 1, 2022, the use of face masks are no longer required to be worn in airport terminals, security and custom screenings, and baggage claim.

Belize Entry Requirements

Effective July 12, 2022, the Belizean government has removed all public health measures at points of entry. This includes any requirements for proof of vaccination for entry into Belize’s airport, land borders or sea ports.

Unvaccinated travelers are no longer required to show proof of a negative PCR or a negative Antigen Rapid test upon arrival.

Costa Rica Entry Requirements

All international tourists are permitted to enter Costa Rica by air, land and sea. Tourists must meet the visa requirements, when applicable, as well as the requirements established in the framework of the pandemic.

The Government of Costa Rica does not require tourists entering by air, land or sea to present a negative COVID-19 test, nor quarantine upon arrival. Tourists visiting Costa Rica are requested to abide by the sanitary protocols in place when participating in tourist activities throughout the country.

Beginning April 1, 2022 Costa Rica will no longer have any entry requirements

Dominican Republic Travel Restrictions

A ll foreign and Dominican passengers entering or leaving Dominican Republic on commercial flights must complete the free electronic entry and exit form, which combines the Traveler’s Health Affidavit, Customs Declaration and International Embarkation/Disembarkation forms. The form can be accessed by clicking here .

Passengers will no longer need to present a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival into the Dominican Republic. Upon entry, airports will perform a quick, aleatory breath test to a percentage of passengers, and all those who present symptoms, upon arrival. All passengers will also need to perform a temperature check. Passengers who present symptoms or whose test results are positive will be isolated and attended at authorized locations. Passengers who present a vaccination card no less than three weeks after the last dose was placed or a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival in the Dominican Republic will be exempted from the random test.

To obtain information on the latest travel protocols that are being implemented in the Dominican Republic related to COVID-19 click here.

El Salvador Travel Restrictions

All entry restrictions and requirements into El Salvador have been removed. No testing and no vaccination proof is required at this time.

Guatemala Travel Restrictions

Effective August 13, 2022, travelers are no longer required to provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results to enter Guatemala.

Jamaica Travel Restrictions

Effective April 16, 2022, travelers are no longer required to present a negative COVID-19 test result in order to board flights to Jamaica. Customers are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for travel to Jamaica.

Customers are encouraged to fill out their Customs & Immigration (C5) form, ahead of time. The form can be accessed at the following website: https://enterjamaica.com/

Mexico Travel Restrictions

To this day, there are no entry restrictions in Mexico and no obligation to carry a COVID test or to do quarantine. Effective June 1, 2022: the Mexico Questionnaire of Identification of Risk Factors in Travelers form, also known as Travel Safe (Vuela Seguro), has been suspended.

Masks are required on arrival and at the airport premises.

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Suspension of Dogs Entering the U.S.

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As Tropical Storm Nicole makes landfall in Central Florida, airports reopen with some attractions still closed

Just a little more than a month after Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Southwest Florida, the area has spent this week bracing for yet another major weather event.

As of Thursday morning, Tropical Storm Nicole continues to barrel through Florida, creating strong winds, storm surge and heavy rains.

Airports are back open

Late afternoon Thursday, Orlando International Airport (MCO) announced they would be reopening at 8 pm tonight for domestic arrivals only. International operations will resume Friday, Nov. 11.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB) resumed normal operations at 4 p.m. EST Thursday.

Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) reopened at 8 a.m.

Although neighboring airports, including Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), Miami International Airport (MIA) and Tampa International Airport (TPA), have stayed open, airport officials have warned travelers of potential flight disruptions.

If you are flying outside of the direct landfall area, travel warnings are likely to come from individual airlines, so be sure to check with yours ahead of scheduled departure. Most of the major airlines have begun issuing notes online of potential disruptions to flights in and out of certain airports, including in neighboring states, like Charleston International Airport (CHS) and Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR).

Spirit, Southwest, JetBlue and Frontier all have disproportionate parts of their operations touch Florida and Orlando, so their flights are most likely to be affected.

Other closures: Theme parks and cruises

Walt Disney World Resort

Walt Disney World Resort announced Wednesday morning that it would begin a phased closure of its four theme parks beginning with Animal Kingdom at 5 p.m., Hollywood Studios at 6 p.m. and the Magic Kingdom and Epcot at 7 p.m. Wednesday's nighttime spectaculars and extended evening theme park hours were also canceled.

As of 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, Disney plans a phased reopening of its parks with adjusted operating hours:

• Magic Kingdom : 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. (Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is scheduled from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.).
• Epcot : 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Animal Kingdom : 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Hollywood Studios : 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. (The Fantasmic! nighttime spectacular will not be performed).

Walt Disney World Resort's Typhoon Lagoon water park and its miniature golf courses will remain closed on Thursday.

Guests staying at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground and the Treehouse Villas at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort were moved to other resorts on Wednesday, but both resorts are planning to reopen Thursday. The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser voyage scheduled for Thursday has been canceled.

Unused days on multiday tickets affected by Tropical Storm Nicole will be automatically extended through Sept. 30, 2023. Guests who have questions about changes or cancellations to their Walt Disney World Resort vacation can find more information on Disney's weather update page .

Universal Orlando Resort

Universal Orlando shared around noon on Wednesday that it would close its theme parks and CityWalk area at 5 p.m. that evening. The decision had previously been made to close Volcano Bay water park Thursday. Per the park's website , Universal's theme parks and Universal CityWalk are open with "limited experiences' to hotel guests only today. They will resume a regular schedule for all guests tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 11.

SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

In preparation for Tropical Storm Nicole, SeaWorld Orlando made the decision on Tuesday to close its Aquatica Orlando water park through Thursday.

Additionally, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will be closed Thursday, with an anticipated reopening on Friday. All affected date-based tickets have been extended through Dec. 31, 2022, according to the park's website .

Legoland Florida and Peppa Pig Theme Park

Legoland Florida and the neighboring Peppa Pig Theme Park opened with adjusted hours on Thursday, Nov. 10. Legoland Water Park will remain closed on Thursday, but normal park operations are expected to resume on Friday, Nov. 11.

Bottom line

As of 8 a.m. EST Thursday, Tropical Storm Nicole continues to cross Florida, where National Weather Service officials expect rain conditions to worsen throughout the day and evening.

Additional reporting by Tarah Chieffi.

Hurricane Nicole hits US east coast after storm surge warnings and evacuation orders

Governor Ron DeSantis says the storm will "affect huge parts" of the state and other officials fear buildings damaged by a previous storm could collapse.

Thursday 10 November 2022 10:49, UK

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Hurricane Nicole has hit the east coast of Florida after a state of emergency was declared in 45 counties and officials warned of a dangerous storm surge.

Heavy rain and sustained winds of 70mph (112kmph) were recorded as it made landfall at 3am (8am UK time).

Nicole was classed as a hurricane as it approached Florida, but the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) classed it as a tropical storm as it hit the coast.

The storm came ashore at Vero Beach, about halfway between Miami and Orlando, and was moving west-northwest at 14mph.

It comes just six weeks after Hurricane Ian killed more than 140 people and caused $60bn (£52bn) of damage. The latest storm is weaker but is still a significant danger.

Mandatory evacuation orders are in place in some areas and the sheriff of Volusia County - home to Daytona Beach - warned some buildings damaged in the last storm were in "imminent danger of collapsing".

"This is the last window of opportunity to secure your families and to secure your properties and possibly save some lives," Mike Chitwood said earlier in an online video.

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The warned of a "dangerous storm surge" amid fears waves whipped up by the wind will wash over beaches and flood low-lying inland areas.

Tornadoes are also possible, forecasters said.

11/09 4pm EST: A dangerous storm surge from #Nicole is expected along much of the E coast of FL, portions of coastal GA, & FL Big Bend. The storm surge will be accompanied by large & damaging waves along the Atlantic coast. Residents should listen to advice from local officials. pic.twitter.com/YIUKOPeuMf — NHC Storm Surge (@NHC_Surge) November 9, 2022

Orlando airport stopped operating at 4pm on Wednesday, while 15 emergency shelters have been opened and 600 National Guard personnel are on standby.

Some 1,600 utility workers are also prepared to restore electricity.

"Please make a plan," Governor Ron DeSantis told a news conference on Wednesday. "This is likely to be a storm making landfall and will affect huge parts of Florida."

Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home is in one of the evacuation zones but it's not known whether the former president is there.

Daniel Brown, from the NHC, said the storm would affect a large swathe of the state.

"Because the system is so large, really almost the entire east coast of Florida except the extreme south-eastern part and the Keys is going to receive tropical storm force winds," he said.

The storm already caused extensive flooding across much of the Bahamas, including Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Andros and the Abacos.

The country's meteorology agency reported a storm surge of about 1.2m (4ft) north of Treasure Cay on Abaco.

More than 860 people were in more than two dozen shelters, officials said, while power and water outages were also reported in the archipelago's northwest.

The storm is expected to move across Florida into southern Georgia on Thursday and across the Carolinas on Friday.

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Is Jamaica safe? State Department advisory raises concerns; here’s what to know

• Updated: Apr. 11, 2024, 10:21 a.m. |
• Published: Apr. 11, 2024, 7:59 a.m.

Bamboo Avenue, near YS Falls in southern Jamaica. Numerous American travelers to Jamaica say they're reluctant to leave their resorts because of the State Department's updated travel advisory. Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com

• Susan Glaser, cleveland.com

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – Two months before my planned trip to Jamaica, the U.S. State Department advised Americans to “reconsider travel” to the popular Caribbean nation.

I considered their advice and I went anyway.

It did give me pause, however, and prompted me to make a few adjustments to the trip.

First, I bought travel insurance for this trip – which I might have done anyway, but the travel advisory confirmed its necessity. Second, I employed a local guide to show me around, rather than exploring on my own. Again, I might have done this anyway, but the travel advisory made it a priority.

The result: I had a great trip, did everything I wanted (and more) and never felt unsafe (well, except perhaps on some of those narrow, windy inland roads alongside some crazy local drivers).

I met plenty of American travelers, however, who were pretty spooked about the updated advisory. Some said they considered canceling their trips. Others said they didn’t feel comfortable venturing from their resorts.

Business owners on the island told me they were already feeling the effects of the advisory.

“Even people who are coming aren’t leaving the resorts,” said Simon Browne, whose family owns YS Falls, a popular waterfall and swimming area on the south side of Jamaica. “It’s been a quiet March.”

Milton Williams, who cooks jerk chicken and other delights along the highway between Montego Bay and Negril, was also feeling the loss of business.

“Lots of people have canceled their vacations,” he told me, as I feasted on his chicken.

I was glad I wasn’t one of them.

What the State Department said

The State Department uses a four-point scale to assess the safety of travel to every country in the world. Level 1 is the safest (“exercise normal precautions”) and Level 4 is the most dangerous (“do not travel”).

In March 2022, Jamaica was elevated from Level 2 (“exercise increased caution”) to Level 3 (“reconsider travel”).

In January, the State Department updated its advisory with additional details about areas of concern, citing specifically crime and medical services in the country.

A spokeswoman for the State Department called the update “routine” and said there was no specific incident that spurred the advisory. She said the crime information remains substantively unchanged from the previous advisory.

Routine or not, the media reported the update as major news, sparking concern about travel to the country during the busy winter and spring vacation season.

Indeed, the language included in the advisory is enough to give any traveler pause. “Violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides, are common,” it reads. “Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts.”

It continues, “Local police often do not respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. When arrests are made, cases are infrequently prosecuted to a conclusive sentence. Families of U.S. citizens killed in accidents or homicides frequently wait a year or more for final death certificates to be issued by Jamaican authorities. The homicide rate reported by the Government of Jamaica has for several years been among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.”

It goes on to list specific geographic areas of concern, and strongly encourages travelers to obtain traveler’s insurance, including medical evacuation insurance, before traveling to Jamaica.

In response to the advisory, the Jamaican Tourist Board noted that crime involving visitors “remains extremely low at 0.01%,” adding, “Jamaica has recorded its lowest crime rate in 24 years in 2023 and this downward trajectory has continued in 2024.”

It’s worth noting that other countries that issue travel advisories to their citizens have not change their guidance on Jamaica in recent years.

Canada, for example, has a similar four-point system for assessing danger. Jamaica is a level 2 (“exercise a high degree of caution”), which is the same as for the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean nations.

Both the United States and Canada cite Jamaica’s high crime rate as among the reasons for concern.

Indeed, Jamaica does have one of the highest murder rates in the world. But both locals and security experts point out that violence in Jamaica is almost never targeted at tourists.

“Jamaicans often told me – Jamaica is only dangerous for Jamaicans,” said Paul Doucet, security director at International SOS , a private health and security service firm.

Doucet visited Jamaica in February, shortly after the State Department updated its advisory, to see for himself whether anything had changed in Jamaica to warrant increased concern.

His conclusion: “It’s fine to go to Jamaica with an understanding of the areas to avoid.”

He added, “We haven’t changed our advice. We haven’t seen any reason to change our advice.”

Doucet acknowledged the country’s high crime rate, but said everyone – from the government to gang members – understands it’s not smart to target tourists, who contributed $4.3 billion to the nation’s economy in 2023.

“No one has an interest in seeing tourism decline,” said Doucet.

He also said that the country’s high homicide rate probably isn’t the best statistic for concerned travelers to worry about. Sexual assaults, carjackings and short-term kidnappings (which he noted are not a problem in Jamaica) are typically a bigger concern for tourists on vacation.

“There’s actually been an improvement in crime in Jamaica,” he said, although he noted that the numbers are subject to underreporting.

Lee Weinstock, a Shaker Heights native who runs a tourism business in Montego Bay, said he has been a victim of crime twice in Jamaica in more than 30 years. His apartment was broken into once, as was his car.

He speculates that there might be a political motivation for the State Department advisory – that it’s a way for the U.S. government to register its discontent with increasing Chinese investment in Jamaica, or disapproval of Jamaica’s anti-LGBTQ laws and policies.

The spokeswoman for the State Department denied that there were political reasons for the update. “This analysis is undertaken without regard to bilateral political or economic considerations,” she said.

She provided this explanation about the process: “Travel Advisories are based on a comprehensive and objective review of safety and security conditions, and ongoing developments that could affect the lives and interests of U.S. citizens abroad. We consider many factors to determine the Travel Advisory level for each country, including crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, kidnapping or hostage taking, health risks, natural disasters/weather, and current events. The information we use to formulate Travel Advisories is collected from a range of sources, such as crime statistics and other publicly-available information, and information gathered from U.S. government sources, including assessments by our embassies and consulates abroad.”

I asked Doucet if the safety I felt in Jamaica was a good gauge of how safe I actually was.

“If you’re traveling around and didn’t go into areas you shouldn’t go, you probably were safe,” he said.

He noted that he spent some time in downtown Montego Bay – not an area where most tourists visit – and didn’t feel particularly safe.

“It was crowded,” he said. “There were a lot people who looked like they didn’t have enough to do.”

Common sense, he said, goes a long way in Jamaica and elsewhere.

“Don’t flash around money,” he said. “Don’t hold three iPhones in your hands.”

Being cautious, however, doesn’t mean being fearful.

Nicole Tutzer from Bainbridge Township traveled to Jamaica last month with her 18-year-old daughter Annika. “They told us – don’t leave the resort by yourself,” said Tutzer, who was staying at the resort next to mine in Montego Bay.

She and her daughter walked across the street to buy water shoes and bug spray and felt perfectly safe.

I, too, left my resort every day – both on foot and with licensed drivers – and also never felt remotely unsafe.

Needless to say, I didn’t visit the areas that were outlined in the State Department advisory, which are well known to locals as areas to avoid.

Honestly, there are plenty of areas in and around Cleveland that I know to avoid, particularly at night and when I’m alone. It seems obvious to use that same commonsense approach when I travel.

Safety in Jamaica

In addition to recommending travel insurance, the State Department offers these suggestions to Americans traveling to Jamaica:

* Avoid walking or driving at night.

* Avoid public buses.

* Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.

* Be aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile.

* Do not attempt to bring firearms or ammunition into the country.

* Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.

Information: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/jamaica-travel-advisory.html

5 days in Jamaica, from Negril to Montego Bay, beaches, bamboo rafting and waterfalls

Will this new Frontier flight from Cleveland to the Caribbean last? Enjoy it while you can

How a guy from Shaker Heights built a 30-year tourism career in Jamaica

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Weather Alert: Heavy rain and strong wind

STORMY END TO THE WEEK

Rain and wind will peak this morning across southern New England. Up to 1.5″ rainfall is expected. We’re not expecting widespread flooding, but ponding water will slow down the AM commute. Gusts up to 50 mph are possible in eastern and southeastern MA. Again, there may be a few problem spots but widespread wind damage is not expected. Gusts will drop to 30-40 mph in the afternoon.

Patchy shower will linger this afternoon with longer dry stretches. The clouds will finally break apart this evening. Temperatures will hover near 60 degrees all day.

WEEKEND IN VIEW

Saturday will mostly cloudy and mostly dry. A few sprinkles will pop up, but won’t reach all towns. Keep the Boston 25 Weather App on hand to keep an eye on that chance if you’re on the go tomorrow.

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Marathon Monday will be beautiful. Dress for 50s at the start line in Hopkinton and mid 60s in Boston at the finish line. Wind will come from the northwest 10-15 mph.

Tuesday will be a gem too. Mostly sunny skies will come with highs near 70.

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Floods swamp New Orleans streets as powerful storm system rolls through Gulf Coast

A powerful and deadly storm system swept over the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, slamming the region with intense rain and flash flooding while spawning tornadoes over southern Louisiana, where at least three tornadoes were confirmed.

The torrential rains were part of a system that unleashed severe weather across the Gulf Coast throughout the day, knocking out power, disrupting travel, damaging buildings and shuttering schools. More than 118,000 homes and businesses were without power Wednesday night from east Texas to Georgia, according to a USA TODAY database .

Between five and eight inches of rainfall were recorded in some New Orleans rain gauges, Nola.com reported , noting that the amount neared that during some of the city's recent serious flood events.

At least one person in Mississippi died as a result of the storms, the state's emergency management agency said. Weather.com reported she was a 64-year-old woman in Scott County whose oxygen machine stopped working when the power went out.

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, the National Weather Service reported multiple possible tornadoes across southern Louisiana, where a powerful squall line with 80-mph winds moved east over the state.

Two confirmed tornadoes were in Slidell , a town 30 miles northeast of New Orleans, and in the southwestern city of Lake Charles. That twister had top wind speeds of 115 mph but hit the ground for only a mile, the NWS said .

Another tornado was confirmed in Saint Francisville, a town about 31 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to weather service survey crews . The weather service in New Orleans said damage in Saint Francisville and Slidell were consistent with at least an EF-1 tornado.

'Worst-case scenario': Tornado in Slidell

A tornado hit the town of Slidell on Wednesday afternoon, injuring several people and damaging homes and property.

Slidell police officer Rodney West, a military veteran, said the aftermath of the apparent tornado reminded him of what he saw in Iraq, Weather.com reported. “ Looks like Baghdad in ‘04,” West said in a social media post.

“Buildings with the windows busted out, cars on their side, other vehicles wrecked, power lines down. Worst-case scenario that you could imagine,” he said.

A tornado warning, then 'everything was shaking'

Monica Hernandez Melancon and her husband got a tornado warning on their phones around 6:30 a.m., just as the rain and wind picked up in Sunset, Louisiana, about 70 miles west of Baton Rouge. Melancon, 60, gathered their two Yorkies – Ceci and Lily – as their trailer began to tremble. Curled up in a corner, she began to pray.

"It was so scary," she told USA TODAY. "You can hardly see anything because the rain was so dense and everything was shaking."

After about 20 minutes, she and her husband emerged from the trailer to find several trees knocked down across their 40-acre property, where they have hundreds of chickens, pigs, hens and lambs. Their farm was not damaged and none of the animals were hurt. Melancon said in her decades living in different parts of Louisiana, she's never experienced such a ferocious storm.

Several school districts in Louisiana and Mississippi held classes virtually or canceled sessions altogether. The Louisiana Division of Administration shuttered state office buildings on Wednesday, and officials asked "all drivers to limit driving on the roads between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.," according to a statement from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry .

Airline delays and cancellations were reported Wednesday afternoon across the region, including at Dallas-Fort Worth and New Orleans airports.

Meteorologists anticipated that as the day continued, damaging hail, wind and possible tornadoes would slam Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the National Weather Service . Thunderstorms could dump around 2 to 4 inches of rain over much of the same area and up through southwestern Georgia.

"Ensure you know where you would take shelter no matter where your day takes you," the weather service warned.

Louisiana weather map

Storm heads to midwest, east coast.

The low-pressure system battering the South is forecast to intensify, expand and track toward the Northeast throughout the rest of the week, and moderate to heavy rainfall will engulf much of the eastern U.S., including the mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Midwest and Ohio Valley regions by Thursday.

The Carolinas, northern Florida and the mid-Atlantic region will see the greatest threat of damaging wind gusts, the weather service said. Heavy rain and potential scattered flash flooding may occur from the southern Appalachians to the northern mid-Atlantic.

Meteorologists say thunderstorms should exit the Southeast by Friday morning as a potent cold front is forecast to sweep across the country from the West Coast.

Storm damages homes in Texas, Arkansas

The severe weather began on Monday and led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to deploy emergency response resources to badly impacted areas of the state. On Tuesday, the governor said he had deployed additional resources throughout the state.

Hail the size of quarters and ping pong balls was reported in eastern Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service . Powerful wind gusts reportedly toppled power lines and uprooted trees. In Pulaski County, Arkansas, 80-90 mph wind gusts damaged several homes. In Houston, a house and a barn had their roofs blown off by strong winds.

US weather watches and warnings

National weather radar.

Charlotte Severe Weather

Affected Airports - City , State Association:

• Charlotte, NC (CLT)

For complete details View

American Airlines has implemented a special exception policy to our travel partners that is now available for our mutual customers due to o perational disruptions, including delays and cancellations due to inclement weather.

Our Travel Notice exception policies on American are also available when ticketed to/from/through on our Joint Business partners: This applies to both prime and codeshare flights as shown below:

Inventory Requirements

Lowest Inventory, Same Cabin

If original inventory is not available rebook lowest inventory available in the same ticketed cabin. As a reminder, customers that do not hold a Basic Economy fare should never be booked into B inventory.

Basic Economy -

• Must be booked in B inventory only. If B inventory is not available, then an alternate flight must be selected. Advance Purchase and Ticket Change restrictions are waived.

Instant Upsell -

Refer to Travel Notice Policy - Travel Agency Guidelines for rebooking guidelines and Endorsement Box requirement when the customer purchased Instant Upsell (IU) directly with American on aa.com . IU PNRs contain the following SSRs:

• OTHS AGENCY RETAINS CONTROL OF TKT FOR REISSUES
• OTHS INSTANT UPSELL ANCILLARY EMD ISSUED 001xxxxxxxxxx

Refer to Exceptions to Fare Rules .

Note: If customers are unable to rebook or reissue their ticket within the given timeline, they can cancel their reservation and use the value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket; all rules and restrictions apply. Travel must commence no later than one year from the date of original issuance.

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• Refer to individual Travel Notice for Event Name
• Ticket Reissue required. This is the only required verbiage and supersedes all other information.

Instant Upsell (IU) tickets must use waiver code: TNADV/IU when rebooking in the Instant Upsell Inventory IU PNRs contain the following SSRs:

Refer to Travel Notice Policy - Travel Agency Guidelines for Endorsement Box requirement when the customer purchased Instant Upsell (IU) directly with American on aa.com .

Changes to Origin/Destination - Not Allowed

• Waive Change Fee
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300-Mile Radius Only - Allowed

• Within same country
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Basic Economy Short-haul fares

book in B inventory only.If B inventory is not available, then an alternate flight must be selected.

Changes to Connection City

Changes to Co-Terminal

Changes to Co-terminal and MAC airports on AA Prime and AA*/Codeshare flights are allowed

• Co-terminal & MAC Airports are considered the same routing.  

Reissue Policy Information

American Airlines will waive change fees and travel agents may rebook and reissue tickets provided the below guidelines are met and applied:

• Ticket issued on the following ticket stock: AA 001, AY 105, BA 125, El053, IB 075, JL 131, QF 081
• Applies to AA*/ one world flights
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• The first departure flight is more than 2 hours away
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• Advance Purchase requirement waived
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• When changes to the outbound travel occur, the unaffected return date may be changed to protect the original length of the trip. The return travel must be booked in the original class of service (inventory).

SalesLink Request

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• Request Type: select 'Service'
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Endorsement Box requirement: 10APR24 or the exchange will be subject to a debit memo

Extend Travel Rebooking Guidelines

If customers are unable to rebook within the New Travel Dates, may reschedule their reservation to/from the same city or alternate cities and reissue their ticket with the below guidelines:

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American Airlines will continue to monitor this Travel Notice Exception Advisory and adjust this policy if needed. Changes will be posted on AA.com and www.saleslink.aa.com reference. Please check these sources frequently for the most up to date information.

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Solar eclipse 2024: Follow the path of totality

Thinking of taking a last-minute drive to see the eclipse here's what to know.

Geoff Brumfiel

RV traffic sits at a standstill along a two-lane road near Madras, Ore., a few days before the 2017 total solar eclipse. Experts say traffic could be heavy, but eclipse watchers shouldn't necessarily be deterred. AFP Contributor/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

RV traffic sits at a standstill along a two-lane road near Madras, Ore., a few days before the 2017 total solar eclipse. Experts say traffic could be heavy, but eclipse watchers shouldn't necessarily be deterred.

NASA says that roughly 31.6 million people live in the path of this year's total solar eclipse, and a little under half of the U.S. population lives within 200 miles driving distance of the path of totality .

That could mean many millions of Americans will hit the road to get a better view on April 8. If you're still pondering whether or not you want to make the journey, here's what to consider.

Have some destinations in mind, and check the weather and cloud cover forecasts in advance

It's a good idea to scout out one or more locations within driving distance, so that you have some flexibility if traffic or weather is threatening your plans, says Jonathan Upchurch, a professor emeritus of civil engineering at Arizona State University who has studied travel around solar eclipses.

There are several interactive tools that show the path of totality, including Eclipse2024.org and the National Solar Observatory . You can use them to figure out what sites might work best for you.

In terms of weather, check not just the weather forecast, but also the cloud cover forecast. Some websites, such as Windy.com will predict cloud cover ahead of time, giving you a sense of whether you'll actually be able to see the eclipse in all its glory.

Everything you need to know about solar eclipse glasses before April 8

During the total solar eclipse in 2017, Upchurch says he chose to go to Idaho "because there were some great chances of having sunny skies, and I had the opportunity to be nimble and relocate if I wanted to."

Before driving into the path of totality, make sure your gas tank is full and that you've got everything you need

During the last total solar eclipse in 2017, it's estimated some 5 million people took to the roads, and those numbers will potentially be much higher this year.

Given all that, Upchurch says it's important to make sure you're taking what you need into the path of totality. You should make sure your car is gassed or charged up, and that you have plenty of snacks and water with you in case you get stranded for a while, especially when trying to leave.

Solar Eclipse 2024: Totality stretches from Texas to Maine

Simple tips to safely photograph the eclipse with your cellphone.

Also don't forget to bring eclipse glasses, which must be worn anytime you're looking at the sun, except for the few minutes when it is completely blocked by the moon.

Some state emergency planners also recommend bringing a paper map or road atlas in case cellular networks become overloaded with visitors seeking directions from their phones.

Don't forget your eclipse glasses everyone! Erika Goldring/FilmMagic hide caption

Don't forget your eclipse glasses everyone!

Arrive early and stay late

Once you figure out where you're going to watch the eclipse, and you've got your supplies, try to get there early. Although traffic is likely to be heavier than normal on the morning of eclipse day, it still should be possible to reach many destinations without too much hassle, says Upchurch.

"Leaving is definitely going to be more of a problem," he says. As the eclipse concludes, people will take to the roads all at once to try and get home as fast as they can. In 2017, that led to traffic jams that lasted many hours in some areas. If possible, Upchurch says, people should stay put for a while to try and avoid the worst of the post-eclipse rush, which in 2017 stretched even into the following day in some parts of the country.

Here's what time the eclipse will be visible in your region

And one more thing: If you do find yourself on the move near the time of the eclipse, state officials stress that you should not simply pull over to the side of the road or highway you're driving on. It's important to be parked legally and safely at the moment of totality.

If you're already in the path of totality: Relax and enjoy!

Several major metropolitan areas including Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo are already inside the path of totality, so there's no need to seek a better view, Upchurch says. You'll probably have the most fun simply staying where you are.

Shots - Health News

Watching a solar eclipse without the right filters can cause eye damage. here's why.

If you're on the edge of the path of totality, however, you might consider making a short trip to get closer to the center of the eclipse's path.

"If you're within about 40 miles of the center line, you'll have two-and-a-half minutes or more" of complete totality, Upchurch says. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth making the trip to a more central location.

Despite studying the potential hassles of traveling extensively, Upchurch says he's still looking forward to seeing the 2024 eclipse, which he plans to watch from Texas.

"Totality is absolutely spectacular," he says. "If you have a chance to witness it, I would do it."

• 2024 solar eclipse
• eclipse 2024
• 2024 eclipse
• Traffic patterns
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