Nicole puts Lee on alert
Winds, rain, power outages reported
Just 42 days after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc across the Southwest coast of Florida, the east coast experienced a hurricane late into the season Wednesday into Thursday.
Category 1 Hurricane Nicole made landfall in Vero Beach Thursday morning, with the outer bands of the storm causing high wind gusts and rain here locally.
As of 10 a.m. Thursday, Nicole was downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, working with the National Hurricane Center to evaluate weather predictions, determined there would be continued risk of dangerous storm surge, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, strong winds hazardous seas, and isolated tornadic activity.
Timely precautions are needed to restore the impacted communities, infrastructure, and the general welfare of Florida, the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis stated.
Cape Coral’s Emergency Operation Center was actively monitoring Nicole along with county, state, and federal partners. City offices operated for business as usual on Thursday, and garbage collections operated normally.
Debris collection was halted though, as wind speeds over 20 mph caused a suspension of service. City officials said debris removal should resume operation on Friday.
Lee County Electric Cooperative spokesperson Karen Ryan told The Breeze as of Thursday afternoon, there were 39 customers in Cape Coral without power. She added that at 7 a.m. Thursday morning, roughly 500 customers were without power “and most were restored quickly.”
Lee County announced its offices and locations were open for regular business Thursday. The Lee County Emergency Operations Center remained activated for assessment and Hurricane Ian recovery.
Lee County officials told The Breeze no county buildings sustained damage or flooding.
The county’s shelters that were opened in advance of Nicole at North Fort Myers Recreation Center and Estero Recreation Center housed 105 residents, 14 cats and four dogs overnight. Shelters closed midday Thursday. LeeTran assisted those who need rides to return to the LeeTran transfer stations where they were picked up prior to the storm.
Public Safety-Emergency Operations is working with the United Way to collect names and addresses of those who need help re-tarping due to winds from Nicole. Residents in need of help should call 2-1-1 or 239-439-3900.
Public Safety-Emergency Operations staff will help coordinate repairs with partnering entities.
Garbage and debris:
Solid Waste garbage and recycling collections that normally occur on Thursdays continued. The Waste-to-Energy facility in Buckingham is open.
The county’s debris hauler, CrowderGulf, did operate Thursday.
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To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com