As a rare November hurricane strikes Florida, Hurricane Nicole has caused power disruptions.

 

 

As hurricane Nicole pummels Florida, more than 300,000 homes and businesses are without electricity.

Residents have been advised to stay inside as there are state of emergencies and evacuation orders in effect due to the forecasted storm surges and torrential rain.

In Orange County in the middle of the state, two persons died after being electrocuted by a downed power line.

This size of a storm this late in the year is very uncommon.

The hurricane already battered the Bahamas as a powerful category 1 hurricane and triggered extensive flooding.

At 03:30 EST (08:00 GMT), Hurricane Nicole made landfall along the eastern coast of Florida with winds of up to 75 mph (120 km/h).

According to report, since  the storm hit in the early hours, more than 600,000 homes and businesses have lost power. Electricity has been restored to around half of these but 308,000 remain without, according to service providers.

The storm is expected to weaken further as it heads north towards Georgia and the Carolinas, over the next two days.

Its remnants could possibly even hit Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York later in the week.

Most of Florida’s 22 million residents remained under a tropical storm, high wind and storm surge warnings along with local hurricane statements that urged people to stay indoors and watch for flooding.