HURRICANE Nicole officially made landfall on the Florida coast early Thursday morning.
Nicole, a Category 1 Hurricane, hit the east coast of the Florida on North Hutchinson Island just south of Vero Beach around 3 am EST, according to the National Hurricane Centre.
The storm has brought intense rain and winds of up to 75 miles per hour, causing nearly 500 flight cancelations in Orlando and leaving tens of thousands without power.
Just before 4 am local time, more than 64,000 Floridians were without power, according to data obtained by Poweroutage.us.
Hurricane Nicole was highly anticipated, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declaring a state of emergency in 34 counties on Monday.
5 deaths in Florida attributed to Tropical Storm Nicole, officials say
Tropical Storm Nicole has now been blamed for at least five deaths in Florida.
Officials at the Orange County Sheriff's Office said two people were electrocuted by a downed power line early Thursday in Orlando.
The power line fell as Nicole barreled across the Florida Peninsula after making landfall about 3 a.m. Thursday just south of Vero Beach, Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
More than 300,000 power outages have been reported across the Sunshine State as of early Thursday afternoon.
Two other people died in a crash on Florida's Turnpike in the county Thursday morning, according to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings at a news conference Thursday.
A central Florida man died during Hurricane Nicole early Thursday morning, according to the Cocoa Police Department. Thomas Whittle, 68, of Port Canaveral was unresponsive when police found him and his wife on their yacht that was docked at Lee Wenner Park in the town of Cocoa.
First responders tried to perform CPR on Whittle, while waves battered the yacht and caused it to float away from the dock. Responders were able to rope the boat in and then bring Whittle to the hospital, where he later died. Cocoa police state the cause of death is still under investigation.
Relentless waves caused by Nicole have pounded Florida beaches. The erosion led to the evacuation of several condominiums and houses, which were deemed to be structurally unsound. Parts of homes and other buildings have also washed into the sea as the ground they were built on is eaten away by the high surf.
While Nicole has now weakened into a tropical storm, impacts such as coastal flooding, beach erosion, heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes will continue to spread across Florida, the Southeast and up the Eastern Seaboard through Friday.
A Tornado Watch was in effect Thursday for areas of northeast Florida, coastal Georgia and southeast South Carolina.
Comment: Update November 11
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