MIAMI — Tropical Storm Nicole, on the cusp of strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane possibly within hours, made landfall in the Bahamas Wednesday morning and remained on track to slam much of Florida with pounding surf, high winds and heavy rain.
Forecasters said a second landfall was expected in the overnight hours near the Palm Beach-Martin County border, though that could still change. Regardless of where the center crosses the state, the sprawling storm’s wind field continued to grow overnight high winds and heavy rains will be felt hundreds of miles away — with the worst conditions likely on its northern side.
By 9 a.m., Lake Worth Pier was already reporting sustained tropical storm-force winds of 44 mph, hours before the center of Nicole is due ashore. Flooding could be seen from Miami north, as storm surge splashed across the Hollywood Broadwalk, overtopped seawalls in Sewalls Point and soaked streets in Palm Beach. Several thousand customers were already without power by mid-morning.
