Hermine slams Florida, threatens East Coast

Associated Press

DEKLE BEACH, Fla.

The first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade wiped away beachside buildings and toppled trees onto homes Friday before plowing inland on a path that could send it rolling up the densely populated East Coast with heavy rain, high winds and flooding.

Hermine quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it spun through Georgia and the Carolinas. But the National Hurricane Center predicted it would regain hurricane strength after emerging over the Atlantic Ocean. The system could then lash coastal areas as far north as Connecticut and Rhode Island through Labor Day.

“Anyone along the U.S. East Coast needs to be paying close attention this weekend,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.

In Florida, Hermine’s main impact came in the form of power outages and damage from storm surges. A homeless man south of Gainesville died when a tree fell on him, Gov. Rick Scott said.

He later took to a Blackhawk helicopter to visit the coastal communities of Cedar Key and Steinhatchee, which were hit hard by the damage from flooding and storm surge that crumpled docks and washed out homes and businesses.

Scott pledged that businesses would be eligible for help from the state. But it’s unclear whether Florida will get any federal disaster assistance as the state begins to clean up from the storm.

An estimated 325,000 people were without power statewide and more than 107,000 in neighboring Georgia, officials said.

At 8 p.m., the hurricane center said the tropical storm was approaching the tourist resort of Myrtle Beach, S.C., amid warnings the storm threatens a dangerous storm surge up to southeast Virginia. Hermine had top sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving northeast at 20 mph.

Forecasters said the system could strengthen back into a hurricane by Monday morning off the Maryland-Delaware coast before weakening again as it moves north. Tropical storm watches and warnings were posted up and down the coastline.

Amtrak says it has canceled or altered some service on the East Coast as the storm approaches.

Back in Florida, a storm surge at Dekle Beach damaged numerous homes and destroyed storage buildings and a 100-yard fishing pier. The area is about 60 miles southeast of St. Marks, where Hermine made landfall at 1:30 a.m. in the Big Bend area, where Florida’s peninsula and panhandle meet.