Strong winds and flooding caused by Hurricane Hermine have knocked out power and induced fears of overwhelming damage to 150,000 people across Florida Gulf Coast.
The tropical system that spun off the warm coastal waters has come in whipping with 80mph winds with a 45mph far-reaching extension from the eye.
The storm barreled into the shoreline that stretched from Tampa to the barrier islands south of Pensacola. It is inevitable that flooding will threaten an even larger part of the state due to the rip currents and high seas.
Hermine has made landfall around 1:30am, becoming the first storm to hit Florida in 11 years since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
Local ABC network affiliate WTXL announced that more than 70,000 power outages occurred including a blackout at Florida State University. Schools and government offices have closed in preparation for the landfall.
Forecasters declared that the next 12 to 24 hours will be critical along the coastal areas. It is likely that surges will reach about nine feet high. Rainfall is measured at 5 to 10 inches in total with a maximum of 15 falling in isolated places.
According to the National Hurricane Center, rains may cause life-threatening floods judging from the 10-inch precipitation impact from Florida to North Carolina.
According to the National Weather Service, the Category 1 hurricane has been in the Gulf of Mexico within range of only 30 miles south-southeast of Tallahassee, just south of the coast at 1am Friday.
Gov. Rick Scott called upon residents within the so-called Big Bend, the elbow where the state's peninsula meets the Panhandle coast, to make sure that food, water and shelter are in place. The Weather Channel Ari Sarsalari added that the whole area is in for a brutal night.
Hermine's eye is expected to head over to the North Carolina coast on Saturday before proceeding to the Atlantic Ocean in the afternoon.
