Hurricane Hermine hits Florida coast

Tropical storm Hermine grew into a hurricane Thursday and steamed toward Florida’s gulf coast.

What became hurricane Hermine in northern Florida is the first hurricane to hit the state since 2005.

Hermine hit the Florida Gulf Coast early on Friday as a category one hurricane, bringing with it a heavy storm surge.

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said wind gusts reached 130km/h on Thursday.

Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for 51 counties, warning of the danger of strong storm surge, high winds, downed trees and power outages, and urging people to move to inland shelters if necessary and make sure they have enough food, water and medicine.

“This is a life-threatening situation,” Scott said. “It’s going to be a lot of risk. Right now, I want everybody to be safe.”

He added that 8,000 members of the Florida National Guard were prepared to be deployed in the wake of the storm.

City officials in the state capital Tallahassee, which is in the path of the storm, said at least 32,000 homes were now without power.

Weather officials in Tallahassee warned of the risk of a flash floods and urged people in the city to move to higher ground.

Scott ordered evacuations in five counties in Florida's north-west and called for voluntary evacuations in three other coastal counties.

South of Tallahassee, the town of Cedar Key has seen a 3 metre storm surge.

According to the BBC, weather officials predicted that Hermine will also hit Georgia and the Carolinas, and could bring heavy rains along the East Coast in the coming days.

Georgia and North Carolina have declared a state of emergency.

The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma in 2005, which made landfall in the US the same year as Katrina and caused five deaths and an estimated $23 billion (€20.54 billion) of damage.