Tropical storm conditions are possible in the tropical storm watch area by Friday night and Saturday.
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Hermine, which is now a Category 1 hurricane, is expected to downgrade back to a tropical storm before it gets to South Carolina Friday afternoon. “We are working to ensure counties in south, central and coastal Georgia have access to the state resources necessary to prepare and respond when Tropical Storm Hermine enters Georgia”.
As of 3 pm Thursday, Hermine has been upgraded to a Hurricane with max winds of 75 miles per hour.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Suwannee River to Mexico Beach. And on the East Coast, a tropical storm warning was issued for an area extending from Marineland, Florida, northward to the South Santee River in SC.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for a section of the U.S. East Coast as Tropical Storm Hermine approaches Florida from the Gulf of Mexico. The system will weaken to tropical storm strength on Friday as moves through Georgia and into SC late in the day on Friday. We could get 10 inches of rain or more from the storm.
It is expected to make landfall around midnight Thursday.
It has maximum sustained winds near 70 miles per hour and and has officially strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane.
Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency to free up state resources to battle the storm, with 49 of Florida’s 67 counties covered by the declaration. The rain will arrive from south to north.
Southern states felt the effects of Hermine on Thursday, dealing with flooding and high winds as the storm moved north-northeast. Rain accumulation could cause flash flooding in affected areas, and the NHC reported there is also risk of tornadoes.
Hurricane Hermine gained new strength Thursday evening and roared ever closer to Florida’s Gulf Coast, where rough surf began battering docks and boathouses and people braced for the first direct hit on the state from a hurricane in over a decade. The storm is likely to become a hurricane before making landfall in Florida early Friday, according to a Thursday report by USA Today.
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By Friday and Saturday, Hermine or its remnants will bring rain and wind to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic coasts, though the exact track of the storm remains uncertain.
