Tropical Storm Nicole washed away multiple seaside homes into the ocean Thursday as the storm hit landfall in Florida.
Several properties are at “imminent risk” due to roughening ocean waters, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said, according to Associated Press. Several coastal homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea collapsed and a strip of high-rise condominiums in Daytona Beach Shores were evacuated prior to landfall due to the previous storm, Hurricane Ian, destroying its seawalls.
Footage posted by WESH 2 reporter Claire Metz showed homes along the shorelines in ruins. She reported that at least five or six residences were destroyed in the Wilbur-by-the-Sea area.
Another home in #wilburbythesea. Only a bedroom & garage left after it collapsed. The property first comprised in #HurricaneIan, finally undermined by Nicole pic.twitter.com/2UypgmgmuV
— claire metz (@clairemetzwesh) November 10, 2022
And more on other side. At least 5 to 6 homes gone pic.twitter.com/5gycxw3X8P
— claire metz (@clairemetzwesh) November 10, 2022
The storm washed away a partially rebuilt seawall funded by a homeowner’s association following the previous wall’s destruction by Hurricane Ian, the Associated Press reported.
Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 storm at around 3 a.m. near Vero Beach Thursday, extending as far as 450 miles as it traveled to nearly all parts of Florida and into Georgia and the Carolinas, the outlet reported. After intensifying into a hurricane Wednesday through Thursday, it returned to being a tropical storm as its sustained winds dropped to 45 miles-per-hour and moved west between Tampa and Orlando. (RELATED: Hurricane Nicole Makes Landfall As Category 1, Then Weakens)
Krista Dowling Goodrich, who manages 130 rental homes in Daytona Beach Shores, watched as the beachfront vanished underwater, the Associated Press reported. A piece of a fishing pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea also washed away.
“While we were there the whole backyard just started collapsing into the ocean. It went all the way up to the house,” she said, according to CBC News. The water also compromised the remaining land between a row of tall condominium buildings nearby, she added.
The storm left 333,000 electric customers without power, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Thursday press conference, according to the Associated Press. The governor said there are 17,000 electric lineman currently being mobilized to restore power and deploy boats and vehicles as needed.
Properties in Florida were left in ruins by the Category 5 Hurricane Ian that devastated the state. The storm led officials in Hillsborough County to mandate mandatory evacuation orders for 300,000 residents.