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WATCH: Drone Footage Reveals Intense Flooding From Tropical Storm Nicole on Florida’s East Coast

With Tropical Storm Nicole continuing to hit Florida’s east coast, new drone footage reveals intense flooding caused by the unusual storm. 

Extreme meteorologist, inventor, and storm chaser Reed Timmer Ph.D. took to Twitter to share the drone’s video of the storm’s flooding. “Significant flooding in Old St Augustine, Florida captured by Dominator UAS from Tropical Storm Nicole.”

Tampa Bay Times reported that on Thursday (November 10th) Tropical Storm Nicole knocked out power to more than 200,000 people in Florida. This included tens of thousands of customers in the Tampa Bay area. By early afternoon, Duke Energy reported about 88,000 customers were without power statewide. This was mostly on the east coast and central Florida. Tampa Electric further reported that nearly 12,000 customers were without power. This was down from nearly 20,000 earlier in the day. 

Nicole notably made landfall around 3 a.m. near Vero Beach. Originally a Category 1 hurricane, it was downgraded to a tropical storm. However, it brought heavy rain and high winds throughout the Sunshine State. This includes Tampa Bay, which was hit hard by Hurricane Ian in late September/ early October. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis revealed on Wednesday (November 9th) that 16,000 linemen were on standby to help restore power.

As Tropical Storm Nicole Hits the South, the North Central Braces For Unusual Blizzard 

Meanwhile, as Tropical Storm Nicole hits the south, USA Today reports that the north-central part of the U.S. is now bracing for strong wind gusts, whiteout conditions, and snowfall amounts up to 18 includes as the first 2022-2023 snowstorm hits the region. 

AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jon Porter shared details about the blizzard. “There can be wind gusts of 50 or 60 mph in some cases,” Porter explained. “Resulting in blizzard conditions across particularly North Dakota, the northwestern part of Minnesota, and up into parts of southern Canada.”

Porter further revealed that the three most active months for hurricanes are August, September, and October. These months are typically too early for significant snowfall in most parts of the U.S. “That’s why you see that disconnect in why this event is somewhat unusual, to have this simultaneous significant snowstorm across northern Plains and a hurricane landfall with serious impacts all the way up the eastern seaboard.”

Another occasion when both a hurricane and winter storm occurred at the same time was in 2012 with Hurricane Sandy. “You had all the damage along the coast, especially in New Jersey and New York, and all the impacts from storm surge,” Porter stated. “Then, not far away in the mountains of West Virginia, there was a raging blizzard with over 40 inches of snow accumulating.”

In 1804, a hurricane hit New England and crossed paths with cold air. This eventually caused 48 inches of snow in Windsor Vermont.