November 9, 2022 Hurricane Nicole news

Krista Goodrich captured video of damage to a property she manages in Wilbur-By-The-Sea, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon, as Tropical Storm Nicole’s winds started to hit Florida’s east coast.

Goodrich told CNN the owner of the house was in his backyard enjoying drinks with his friends Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning the entire area was gone.

"Last night we still had about 30 feet of backyard," Goodrich said, "This morning it was all gone and parts of the properties nearby were collapsing into the ocean."

The owner of the house has since evacuated along with all the furniture and belongings inside, Goodrich said. She hopes the property will withstand the storm but fully expects it to be completely gone.

See Goodrich's videos below:

Shaw Schofield captured scenes from Daytona Beach Wednesday as waves and strong wind led to the partial collapse of a building ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole making landfall in Florida.

See Schofield's photos and videos below:

Airlines are canceling thousands of flights ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole.

Data from flight tracking site FlightAware shows as of 2 p.m. ET, carriers in the US have canceled more than 900 Wednesday flights and another 1,000 flights on Thursday.

Orlando International Airport tops cancelations nationwide. The airport says “commercial operations will cease” as of 4 p.m. ET Wednesday. Images tweeted from the airport’s verified account show jet bridges tied down and ticket counters covered in plastic.

American, Delta, Southwest, and United Airlines have all issued travel waivers allowing impacted passengers to rebook their flights free of charge.

Southwest Airlines, which operates heavily in Florida, “has trimmed operations at a number of airports we serve in Florida,” including stopping flights into and out of Palm Beach.

“As of now, we plan to resume operations, as weather and infrastructure permit, at those airports tomorrow,” Southwest said in a statement.

As Tropical Storm Nicole gets closer to making landfall in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded his state of emergency to include 11 more counties, according to a Wednesday news release.

The state of emergency now includes Alachua, Bradford, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hernando, Jefferson, Levy, Marion, Pinellas, Taylor, and Wakulla counties.

DeSantis originally declared a state of emergency Monday that included 34 Florida counties.

Duval County's Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry issued a countywide state of emergency Wednesday ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole. 

Tropical Storm Nicole is poised to become a hurricane as it approaches Florida's east coast.

"While overnight Nicole's track shifted to the west, and Jacksonville is now out of the cone, this does not mean we will not feel significant impacts from the storm," Curry said at a storm briefing.

"At this time, Duval County remains a new tropical storm warning," Curry said.

The mayor said that "things could always change but at this point, we don't have any plans to evacuate."

According to Curry, "the biggest threat to Duval County remains to be intense storm surge and flooding along the coast and along the St. Johns River."

Hundreds of homes in central Florida were submerged in floodwater following Hurricane Ian due to the St. Johns River – a notoriously lazy river on the east side of the peninsula.

"This combined with bands of rain and strong winds throughout the storm makes for flooding in low-lying areas," the mayor said. 

"The biggest concern" for neighborhoods in the Jacksonville area is the potential for "waves at the beach as high as 10 to 15 feet," Curry said.

Duval County Public Schools and city officers will be closed tomorrow because of the storm, said the mayor. 

Tropical Storm Nicole isn't supposed to make landfall in Florida until Wednesday night, but the effects of the storm are already being felt there.

Storm surge has already begun breaching sea walls in St. Lucie, Florida, according to a tweet from the St. Lucie Sheriff's Office.

Coastal St. Lucie is part of metro Port St. Lucie and is about 126 miles southeast of Orlando, Florida. 

St. Lucie County Public Safety officials strongly recommended that residents in Zones A and B evacuate before 10 a.m. Wednesday ahead of the storm making landfall, said a county tweet. 

St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office tweeted, "Walton Road south to the county line will be open to Indian River Drive residents only. Barricades will be in place through the duration of this storm. Please use alternate routes."

In Orlando, Disney World parks and resorts will begin a phased closure at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday because of the storm, with EPCOT and Magic Kingdom scheduled the last to close at 7 p.m. ET, said a weather alert on Disney's website.

"We are continuing to closely monitor Tropical Storm Nicole, which continues to be a dynamic and evolving storm," park officials said Tuesday. 

Universal Orlando Resort made a similar operational decision, with Universal Orlando Resort -- including CityWalk -- planning to close at 5 p.m.

Tropical Storm Nicole made landfall in the northwestern Bahamas late Wednesday morning on its way to eastern Florida, where it is expected to strike as a hurricane early Thursday and deliver heavy rain, damaging winds and possibly tornadoes to some places still recovering from Hurricane Ian.