Joe Biden, President of the United States, has approved the declaration of emergency in the state of Florida due to the passage of Hurricane Nicole, which made landfall on the Atlantic coast early this Thursday.
The cyclone began to form on November 7, although it did not reach the Bahamas until Wednesday and, later, south of Vero Beach, already in Florida, early Thursday morning. According to the authorities, inclement weather can cause severe flooding or power outages.
Before the arrival of the hurricane, the Florida authorities have cut off access to several bridges that connect the peninsula with the state's barrier islands. In fact, the evacuation of these islands of the Atlantic coast has been ordered.
The White House has released a statement ordering the assistance of federal funds to address the emergency conditions caused by the storm. In this statement, Biden has directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all relief efforts.
The assistance is prepared to "identify, mobilize and provide, at its discretion, the equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency," the White House said in this statement.
The alert notices extend from Boca Raton, south of the peninsula, to counties that are north of the city of Orlando. Governor Ron DeSantis has activated the National Guard and mobilized some 16,000 troops in anticipation of what may happen, with states of emergency officially declared in 45 of Florida's counties, NBC reports.
In addition, the tropical storm has caused the delay of NASA's Artemis I unmanned lunar mission that was scheduled to launch on November 8. Therefore, it will be postponed until November 16, as notified by the US agency.
After wreaking havoc in the northwestern Bahamas on Wednesday, the cyclone headed for Florida early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane with 120-kilometer-per-hour winds. After passing through Florida, forecasts indicate that it will head towards the south of the state of Georgia this Thursday night and towards the Carolinas on Friday. Finally, the system should weaken early Friday, according to studies by the National Hurricane Center.
During the month of September, the United States experienced another cyclone, although of a higher magnitude. Hurricane Ian left two million people without electricity and 90 of them were fatal victims of this catastrophe. The gusts of wind it produced were more than 240 kilometers per hour, a fact that led the Biden Administration to approve the declaration of the disaster.
