A day after Hurricane Nicole slammed Florida with pounding rain and whipping winds, the storm, now a tropical depression, will merge with another weather system on Friday as it moves north, soaking parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic States with several inches of rain, forecasters said.
An excessive rain outlook for Friday by the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center showed a large section of the country from northern Georgia up to Maine under a marginal risk for flash flooding. A smaller area further inland, from southwestern North Carolina up through Ohio and western Pennsylvania and farther north into upstate New York, was under a slight risk for flash flooding.
Meteorologists also warned that tornadoes were possible early Friday in the Carolinas and later in the day in Virginia as the storm inches north.
While Florida received the brunt of Nicole’s effects, areas farther north should prepare for heavy rain. Up to four inches were expected through Saturday for parts of the southeast and the Appalachians, as well as for portions of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. Areas along the Blue Ridge could see up to eight inches.
The storm was expected to weaken to a post-tropical cyclone on Friday and then dissipate as it merges with another weather system moving in from the West.
Nicole made landfall on Thursday as a rare November hurricane, causing severe flooding and devastating coastal erosion on Florida’s east coast.
The storm swept across the state, causing at least four deaths and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers.
In Volusia County, at least two dozen hotels and condominiums were deemed unsafe, leading to the evacuation of about 500 residents.