Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened into a hurricane Thursday and steamed toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, where people put up shutters, nailed plywood across store windows and braced for the first direct hit on the state from a hurricane in over a decade.
Advertisement
Areas from Destin to Indian Pass, as well as from Aripeka to Bonita Beach could experience a surge of 1-3 feet, and that could also be possible on the Atlantic Coast from the Florida-Georgia line to Cape Fear, the hurricane center said.
Tropical Storm Hermine picked up speed and maintained its strength on a course for northern Florida on Thursday morning, and forecasters said it could be a hurricane when it comes onshore. The storm is likely to be felt the strongest across the Big Bend of Florida, which is relatively less populated than points west and inland.
Hermine had winds of 60 miles per hour, and the hurricane center expected it to strengthen and be a hurricane near the time of landfall, which could be late tonight or early Friday. Despite the bravado, he said, “I’m anxious”.
The last hurricane to strike Florida was Hurricane Wilma, which entered the state from along southwest Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm on October 24, 2005.
“I’m preparing for a pretty big mess”, he said.
In South Carolina, news outlets reported that high school football games in many areas will be played Thursday night because Hermine was expected to bring heavy rains to the state Friday. The storm is expected to flood streets in the Charleston area which can see high tide flooding even on sunny days. Winds across then inland areas will gust as high as 30 to 40 miles per hour.
The storm could also unleash more than a foot of rain across much of Central and North Florida as well as isolated tornadoes across North Florida into southern Georgia.
Residents in some low-lying Florida communities were being asked to evacuate Thursday as the storm approached.
In North Carolina, Gov.
Emergency management officials in Franklin County have issued a mandatory evacuation notice for people living on St. George Island, Dog Island, Alligator Point and Bald Point.
Residents on some islands and other low-lying, flood-prone areas in Florida were urged to clear out.
A tropical storm warning has been extended northward for the Atlantic coast to Surf City, North Carolina, with a tropical storm watch from north of Surf City to Oregon Inlet, North Carolina.
Advertisement
Florida’s Gulf coast is bracing Thursday for a hit from Tropical Storm Hermine, which forecasters say could make landfall as a hurricane.
