Some 70,000 households were left without power after Hermine was became the first hurrican to make Florida landfall since 2005, slamming Florida’s northern coast for, before it weakened to a tropical storm and ploughed its way overland toward the Atlantic Coast on Friday.
The hurricane brought heavy rains and packed top winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) an hour on Friday, as it remained a Category 1 hurricane after making landfall near Saint Marks, Florida, the U.S. National Hurricane Center, causing damage and leaving tens of thousands of households without power along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic storm season.
Bad flooding along banks of Steinhatchee River. Boats washed onto roads. Lots of debris. Hurricane #Hermine. pic.twitter.com/PVEJBixMc1
— Vic Micolucci – WJXT (@WJXTvic) September 2, 2016
“It is a mess… we have high water in numerous places,” Virgil Sandlin, the police chief in Cedar Key, Florida, told the Weather Channel. Strong gusts downed power lines and trees as widespread flooding inundated communities in Florida before the hurricane weakened into a tropical storm as it reached Georgia and South Carolina, where conditions deteriorated early on Friday morning.
The following photo showed just how extensive the blackout was.
Incredible thing to see. All of Florida State and Tallahassee, dark. #Hermine pic.twitter.com/u6uMuPRLjL
— Matt Reagan (@reaganmatt) September 2, 2016
An overnight clip from Tallahassee shows the substantial flooding:
“The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will continue to cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the National Hurricane Center said. The center warned that some areas along Florida’s northern Gulf Coast may experience 9 feet (3 m) of flooding. Florida Governor Rick Scott said the storm could lead to deaths and told residents to stay indoors until it had passed.
Quoted by Reuters, Governor Scott advised residents to “Stay indoors even if it calm outside. The eye of Hermine may be passing through. Let it pass completely before surveying any damage.” Scott declared a state of emergency in 51 of Florida’s 67 counties, and at least 20 counties closed schools.
Storm surge is most damaging part of a hurricane or tropical storm, says @noaaocean https://t.co/s5YsnFg5OJ #Hermine pic.twitter.com/SzB2r4Rccv
— UN Climate Action (@UNFCCC) September 2, 2016
“This is life-threatening,” Scott told reporters on Thursday.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of five counties in northwestern Florida, with voluntary evacuations in at least three more counties. Twenty emergency shelters were opened across the state for those displaced by the storm.
Hermine could dump as much as 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in some parts of
the state. Ocean storm surge could swell as high as 12 feet (3.6
meters).
The good news is that Hermine is weakening as it moves farther inland across Florida’s Panhandle into Southern Georgia. The hurricane should then move near or over eastern South Carolina Friday night and near or over eastern North Carolina the next day. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday declared emergencies in affected regions. In South Carolina, the low-lying coastal city of Charleston was handing out sandbags.
Good morning,#Hermine. Hurricane is weakening, likely to drop back to Tropical Storm status later this AM. #FCNstorm pic.twitter.com/p9E6W9giwb
— Lauren Rautenkranz (@WeatherLauren) September 2, 2016
On its current path, the storm could dump as much as 10 inches (25 cm) of rain on coastal areas of Georgia, which was under a tropical storm watch, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of “life-threatening” floods and flash floods there.
Earlier, orange-juice futures surged to a five-week high as the storm neared Florida, although as Bloomberg reports, Hermine will pass too far north to be a major threat to citrus. Florida is the second-largest producer of orange juice behind Brazil.. Hurricane watches and warnings were posted along Suwannee River to Mexico Beach.
So far the energy-heavy infrastructure in the region has been spared. When Hermine first entered the Gulf, offshore oil and gas output fell as companies pulled crews off rigs and platforms. That trend reversed with the storm’s track toward Florida. However on Thursday Chevron announced it will shut its Panama City, Florida, terminal as a precaution, with plans to reopen the next day.
Insurance losses from Hermine’s strike should be “manageable” because it will miss more heavily populated areas, according to Meyer Shields, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods in Richmond, Virginia.
Finally, as we noted last night, through the weekend, a frontal system across the northern U.S. may keep Hermine close to the East Coast, Vallee said. Areas along the U.S. East Coast from the Mid-Atlantic states to the Northeast could see high waves and beach erosion, making for a very soggy holiday weekend.
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