Nicole forces 12 Daytona Beach Shores condo complexes to evacuate as storm threatens collapse

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. – Daytona Beach Shores police and Volusia County deputies are going door-to-door inside 12 condo complexes and one hotel along the beach that are under threat of collapse due to the powerful storm surge caused by Tropical Storm Nicole.

“Our chief building official had already deemed five of them unsafe, but after the last high tide cycle, he found that the mitigation that these properties had done to stop the damage from Ian had failed and six more properties are now being evacuated,” Chief Mike Fowler said.

Fowler added that there was a distinct possibility of structural collapse at these 11 buildings; however, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the total number of buildings included 12 condo complexes and at least one hotel.

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“We don’t want to be in these buildings,” Fowler said. “These buildings are not safe to be in. People did not heed the warning that the county put out for a mandatory evacuation of the entire beachside. So now we’ve got our people in there and we’re trying to get them moved out as soon as possible.”

According to city officials, the buildings evacuated included St. Kitts, Grand Coquina, Twin Towers North, Marbella, Pirates Cove and Sunglow Resort. They were evacuated at about 2 p.m., the city said.

Sheriff Mike Chitwood said there were additional buildings in danger of collapse in Wilbur-by-the-Sea.

Hurricane Nicole will continue to track westward toward the east coast of Florida during the day, with anticipated landfall near north Palm Beach County late Wednesday and into early Thursday morning.

Flagler, Volusia and Brevard counties are expected to see winds reaching 50 to 80 mph with 4 to 8 inches of rain.

A storm surge warning remains in effect for the entirety of east Central Florida coast, for the potential of 3-5 feet of surge above ground level and as much as 6 feet in spots.

Strong and gusty onshore winds through Wednesday night will produce very high seas and large breaking waves. These winds, high seas and surf will combine with high tides to bring the threat of significant beach erosion around the times of the high tide cycle.

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