Hurricane Nicole

Tropical Storm Nicole made landfall as a hurricane early Thursday near Vero Beach, Florida. It's such a sprawling storm that it has covered nearly the entire peninsula while reaching into Georgia and South Carolina. Weather-weary central Florida is still getting strong winds and heavy rain, with a damaging coastal surge in places like Daytona Beach Shores. The rare November hurricane led officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations. Nicole is expected to dump lots of rain over a large area of the southeastern United States, with up to six inches falling over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

A Florida-bound storm has strengthened into Hurricane Nicole after pounding the Bahamas and state officials ordered evacuations that included former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. It's a rare November hurricane for storm-weary Florida, where only two hurricanes have made landfall since recordkeeping began in 1853 — the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985. At 10 p.m. EST, about 75 miles (125 kilometers) east-northeast of West Palm Beach, Florida, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. Its maximum sustained winds were recorded at 75 mph (120 kph), and the system was moving west at 13 mph (20 kph).