Hurricane Nicole: Power outages as rare November storm hits Florida - BBC

Some 215,000 homes and businesses successful Florida person been near without powerfulness arsenic tempest Nicole batters the US state.

States of exigency and evacuation orders are successful place, and residents person been told to enactment indoors with dense rainfall and tempest surges forecast.

Nicole has already lashed the Bahamas arsenic a immense class 1 hurricane, and caused wide flooding.

Storms of this size truthful precocious successful the twelvemonth are highly rare.

Nicole deed Florida's eastbound seashore arsenic a hurricane astatine 03:00 EST (08:00 GMT) with winds of up to 75mph (120km/h). These person weakened somewhat to astir 60mph and Nicole has been downgraded to a tropical tempest arsenic it makes its mode north-west crossed the sunshine state.

The tempest is expected to weaken further arsenic it heads northbound towards Georgia and the Carolinas, implicit the adjacent 2 days.

Its remnants could perchance adjacent deed Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York aboriginal successful the week.

Most of Florida's 22 cardinal residents remained nether a tropical storm, precocious upwind and tempest surge warnings on with section hurricane statements that urged radical to enactment indoors and ticker for flooding.

Forty-five of the state's 67 counties are nether a authorities of exigency and 4 counties are nether mandatory evacuation orders.

The NHC has warned of flooding caused by wind-driven waves washing inland into low-lying areas, and said beardown winds were apt to stroke down trees and powerfulness lines. Footage connected societal media showed this was already nether way.

Fifteen exigency shelters person been opened, 20 schoolhouse districts person unopen their establishments and 1,600 inferior workers are connected standby to reconstruct power.

Ahead of Nicole's arrival, Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort closed aboriginal connected Wednesday, and Orlando International Airport has grounded commercialized flights.

The accomplishment of Nicole is besides expected to further disrupt a long-delayed Nasa rocket launch, which aims to bring Americans one-step person to returning to the Moon.

The Artemis 1 ngo had already been pushed backmost to 19 November but determination are fears that flying debris caused by the tempest could harm the exposed rocket.

Nicole's precocious accomplishment follows a comparatively quiescent tempest play - for the archetypal clip since 1997 not a azygous hurricane oregon tropical tempest formed successful the Atlantic basin this August.

November hurricanes are uncommon successful Florida. Since record-keeping began successful 1853, the sunshine authorities has been deed by lone two: successful 1935 and 1985.

Nicole comes conscionable weeks aft Hurricane Ian deed Florida, leaving much than 140 radical dormant and caused $60bn (£51bn) worthy of damage.