“I was here in 1985 for Hurricane Elena and I don’t recall anything this bad”.
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The hurricane is expected to gradually weaken until it becomes a tropical storm.
“Hurricane Hermine is strengthening fast and it will impact the majority of our state”, – Florida governor Rick Scott. Hurricane Hermine gained new strength Thursday evening as it roared.
Virtually all of SC is under some sort of weather warning – tropical storm warnings near the coast to high wind warnings farther inland. On the west side, a tropical storm warning is in effect now to Destin, Fla. Hermine strengthened into a hurri.
Hermine, which is classified as number 1 hurricane has already made its landfall in Florida around 1:30 am EDT on Friday.
In the Valdosta area, Lowndes County spokeswoman Paige Dukes said crews were dealing with fallen trees and snapped power lines, but no injuries had been reported. Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity. It is now expected to move up the East Coast, through Georgia and the Carolinas and will bring along flooding rains. It was the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in 11 years, carrying winds of 70 miles per hour with higher gusts. Hermine is expected to move into Georgia, but will likely be downgraded to a tropical storm by that time. “Please remember that while we can rebuild your home or your business, we cannot rebuild the loss of life”.
Hurricane Hermine is moving inland over the eastern Florida Panhandle after making landfall in the state’s Big Bend area Friday morning.
At Dekle Beach, a storm surge damaged numerous homes and destroyed storage buildings and a 100-yard fishing pier.
Eddie Bass, who owns a home in Alligator Point, said he wasn’t boarding it up despite worries about the storm surge. Where her bar once stood now was only wet sand and rubble. Georgia Power tweeted on Friday morning that 19,000 people were without power.
Dustin Beach, 31, rushed to Keaton Beach on Friday from a hospital in Tallahassee where his wife had given birth Thursday night to a girl. “It’s a home on stilts so I put everything upstairs”. She says she hopes the two boats in their boathouse are still safe.
Fire-rescue spokesman Mike Bellamy said an unknown number of people were taken to hospitals with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening. Bellamy said his agency responded to more than 300 calls overnight. The tree didn’t initially crash through the roof, and Autry and his wife went to a neighbor’s house. “We have a hurricane”. “By far, this is the worst damage we’ve ever had”.
But the rain caused flooding in many areas of Tampa, St. Petersburg and coastal regions in Pinellas and Pasco counties. Hermine was weakening as it moved into southern Georgia, the Hurricane Center said.
He said the storm also downed trees, leaving many major streets blocked.
“I thought somebody had shot me, the way it sounded”, Gatlin said a few hours later in his living room, where a cooking pot on the floor caught water dripping from the ceiling in a long, thin line.
More heavy rain will extend northward into Georgia throughout the day on Friday.
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Years it had been since a hurricane hit Florida.
