Tropical Storm Nicole swept across Florida on Thursday, weakening but carrying a powerful punch, with a mix of heavy rains and fierce winds that downed power lines, flooded homes and left at least two people dead. EPA-EFE/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH.
Utilities have restored service to nearly 90% of the roughly 600 000 customers who lost power since the storm first hit.
The system weakened into a depression on Thursday night after making landfall on Florida's east coast, and is forecast to become a post-tropical cyclone on Friday.
Nicole continues to bring heavy rains and fierce winds, that downed power lines, flooded homes and left at least two people dead in the state.
The utility with the most outages and most customers restored is Florida Power & Light Co (FPL), the nation's biggest power utility.
Tropical Storm Nicole swept across Florida on Thursday, weakening but carrying a powerful punch, with a mix of heavy rains and fierce winds that downed power lines, flooded homes and left at least two people dead.
As many as 350 000 homes and businesses across Florida were without power on Thursday, after the storm struck the Atlantic Coast near Vero Beach, north of Miami, at 3am EST (0800 GMT), as a late-season hurricane packing sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (120km/h).
The year's eighth Atlantic hurricane and its 14th named cyclone system, Nicole was downgraded to a tropical storm soon after moving inland and later to a depression.
Nicole was expected to become a post-tropical cyclone on Friday and was continuing to bring heavy rains to the south east, the National Hurricane Centre said late on Thursday.
"We're ready and resources are available for the post-storm needs," Florida Governor Ron De Santis said. "This is still a large storm and it is impacting much of the state."
Several beachfront homes collapsed in the upscale community of Wilbur-by-the-Sea, just south of Daytona Beach, and several more were left teetering on the brink after surging waves of surf kicked up by high winds undercut the buildings' foundations.
The homes had been vacated and no one was injured, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
About 150 residents from two shoreside condominium complexes had been evacuated on Wednesday because the buildings were in danger of collapse from crumbling seawalls, Chitwood said.
Reuters