Hurricnae Hermine has claimed at least one life in Florida after making landfall in the Big Bend area early Friday morning with life-threatening heavy rainfall and damaging winds.
Marion County emergency officials confirmed to weather.com that a male of undetermined age was killed by a downed tree that fell onto a tent in a homeless camp around 2 a.m. Friday morning. The man has not been identified.
Hermine - which has since weakened to tropical storm status - caused severe damage along the coast of Taylor County, Florida, according to the Perry Police department.
More than 226,000 are without power in Florida Friday after Hurricane Hermine made landfall. Other areas of the state received heavy rains which led to flooding and the rescue of at least 18 people from rising waters in Pasco County, WFLA reports.
Severe storm surge damage to home in Keaton Bch, FL. #Hermine
Brownell said she believes Alligator Point will be the most heavily-impacted area.
"There will be damages all over, I'm sure, but Alligator Point got beat up pretty bad," Brownell said.
In Franklin County, Brownell said water began rising at about 6:50 p.m., local time. She said water rose over Highway 98 and prompted street closures throughout the area. On St. George Island, at least two homes had power lines break loose from the structures.
Electric crews are back at it! They're working hard to restore power to #Tallahassee.
"This is life-threatening," he said. "We can not rescue you ... you are responsible."
More than 75 percent of Florida counties are under a state of emergency, which Scott declared Wednesday, adding nine more counties later in the day, for a total of 51.
(MORE: Check the Forecast for Hurricane Hermine
Big Bend Area
The Big Bend area received a direct hit from Hurricane Hermine. Many counties in the area had ordered mandatory evacuations ahead of the storm, but not all residents heeded those orders."We’ll be starting search and rescue mode around daylight," Levy County Sheriff Bobby McCallum told WCJB. "We have had one report of a lady with a broken arm, hundreds of trees down across the roads. We've till got water standing across roads. We’ve had a pretty rough night here in Levy County."
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for coastal areas across Levy County, WGFL reports. Parts of at least four other counties in the Big Bend region were under evacuation orders as well.
In Wakulla County, south of Tallahassee, a couple suffered minor injuries during the storm when they drove into a tree that had fallen in the road, County Administrator Dustin Hinkel told the Associated Press early Friday. He said storm surge of 8 to 10 feet damaged docks and flooded coastal roads.
Roads throughout the area had to be shut down due to flooding. Water was reported over the road in Franklin County on Big Bend Scenic Byway in Eastpoint and in Wakulla County on Bottoms Road in Panacea, WTXL.com reports.
The Cedar Key Police Department said many parts of the island were underwater Thursday, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
About half of the small island's population of approximately 700 people opted to evacuate, the Democrat also reports. Officials estimated the water had risen to four feet above normal levels by late Thursday afternoon.
Orange County
Police in Orlando say four children are injured after they were struck by a car that spun out of control Thursday evening.According to WFTV.com, inclement weather and slick roads likely caused the motorist to lose control of the vehicle at S. Bumby Avenue and E. South Street. The children were standing on a sidewalk at the time of the incident.
"The injured pedestrians were all children - siblings accompanied by their mother - ranging in ages from 5 to 11," Lieutenant Jonathan Bigelow told WFTV. "All four children were transported to a local hospital for medical attention."
The children's conditions are unknown at this time.
Leon County
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum told the AP Friday that power outages were "pretty ubiquitous" in Florida's capital city.Alison Faris, director of communications for the city of Tallahassee, told weather.com that approximately 70,000 City Utility customers are currently without electricity.
"There are reports of downed power lines and trees throughout the city," Faris said. "Once the winds subside and it’s safe, crews will begin assessing the damage and mobilize response and recovery efforts. Power restoration could take a number of days."
(MORE: 3 Things To Know About Hurricane Storm Hermine)
The city of Tallahassee said in a Tweet that power restoration efforts had resumed early Friday morning.
Residents eon Bannerman Road reported what sounded like a transformer blowout as the storm began to affect the area Thursday night, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. Power outages were reported on Thomasville and Ox Bottom roads.
Crews reported a power pole was broken by a downed tree on Indianhead Drive in Tallahassee Thursday.
Manatee County
Strong winds caused damages in Ellenton Thursday, tearing the roofs and porches off of several homes, according to the National Weather Service. A roof was torn off of a mobile home in Bradenton as well.A tree was downed onto County Road 48 at the Wahoo Curve Thursday, causing a complete road closure, NWS also reports.
Pinellas County
The Florida Highway Patrol closed the Sunshine Skyway over Tampa Bay Thursday afternoon, due to high winds that were gusting up to 56 mph at times.Emergency crews rescued a woman and her two dogs from her daughter's home in South St. Petersburg, where rising water from Lake Maggiore flooded streets, WFLA reports.
"The husband was already out, but the wife, it was an old couple and the wife was still stuck in there," Alexis Edwards, who witnessed the rescue, told WFLA. "They were trying to help her out and as they were helping her, the car was just sinking like really fast," she said.
Manholes in Largo were spewing sewage Wednesday, Todd Tanberg, the county's assistant environmental services director told the Tampa Bay Times. The city began dumping partially treated sewage into Tampa Bay overnight to relieve pressure on already overwhelmed sewer system.
(MORE: Hurricane Hermine - 3 Things To Know)
"Based on prior samples during similar conditions, 90 percent of the discharge is expected to consist of rainwater/stormwater," the city said in a statement released Thursday morning.
Sarasota County
A woman had to be rescued Thursday after a massive swell knocked her off of the North Nokomis Jetty and pulled her underwater.WWSB reports that the woman was facing the Gulf and standing on the jetty when she was knocked over. The strong currents made it difficult for nearby surfers to reach her, but one was eventually able to drag her onto the rocks before a second swell came over the jetty. She was taken to a nearby parking lot where she was met by EMS responders and treated for lacerations on her legs.
The Sarasota neighborhood flooded after Whitaker Bayou overflowed at low tide, WFLA reports, and city officials are concerned about what may happen when the tides change.
"Where I'm concerned at is when it's high tide. And right now, what’s unusual is, it's low tide, and we’re getting these backups in certain areas, and I think our storm water systems are overloaded," Todd Kerkering, the City of Sarasota’s emergency manager, told WFLA.
County officials are asking residents to conserve water to reduce the volume entering the sewer system, WFLA reports, which is already operating at full capacity trying to keep up with storm runoff.
Hillsborough County
Conditions from Hermine damaged a carport in the Spear Mobile Home Park in Plant City and downed a tree on Stanley and Thonotosassa roads Thursday, according to NWS.The City of Tampa closed Bayshore Boulevard in anticipation of flooding from Hermine on Thursday afternoon.
"In this community, we know where the low-lying areas are," he said. "We know where the areas are that hold water in the City of Tampa. We have barricades pre-positioned already in the event we need to deploy those barricades."
Pasco County
Early Friday morning, Pasco County Fire Rescue and sheriff’s deputies used high-water vehicles to rescue 18 people from rising water at their homes in Green Key and Hudson Beach, the AP reports. They were taken to a nearby shelter.On Wednesday night, more than 200 patients, including a dozen who are critically ill, were evacuated from a Pasco County hospital after lightning destroyed one generator, knocked out power and sparked a small fire.
Hospital officials told WFLA that a lightning strike is believed to have hit a main power feed on the roof of the Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson around 6:15 p.m Wednesday.
No one was injured and all patients were safely evacuated to other area medical facilities.
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