Florida faces destruction once more as storm Nicole leaves 5 dead

Floridians are picking up the pieces of a storm that brought strong winds and coastal flooding, leaving at least five people dead this week, CNN reports.

The big picture: The major toll on coastal areas from former Hurricane Nicole, especially in the Daytona Beach area, came as weakened dunes and coastal protections left behind from Hurricane Ian were coupled with the new surge which toppled multiple buildings.

• The storm’s large wind field meant the surge was unusually far-reaching and significant.

Of note: In Orange County, a man and a woman died by electrocution from a downed power line, per the local sheriff's office.

• In the same county, a man died in a vehicle crash, and a male pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle due to poor road conditions, AP reports.
• Another man died in Cocoa when waves battered his yacht against a dock, according to AP.

Details: In Daytona Beach Shores and New Smyrna Beach, dozens of hotels and buildings were deemed uninhabitable after their foundations were gutted in the storm.

• In eastern Florida, a roughly 15-mile coastline was severely eroded and multiple seawalls were destroyed. Much of the damage was blamed on seawalls not being repaired after Hurricane Ian, per AP.
• Less than 1,000 people remained without power in Florida Saturday morning, down from a high of more than 300,000, per utility tracking site poweroutage.us.

Threat level: Now a post-tropical cyclone, Nicole is expected to head toward the Northeast through Saturday, with heavy rain and isolated flooding extending north across New England, per the National Hurricane Center.