Florida battered by Hurricane Hermine

Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in more than a decade, packed winds of 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph) as it made landfall just south of the state capital, Tallahassee, early on Friday.

Florida Governor Rick Scott described damaged roads, flooded low-lying areas and power outages for about 253,000 people because of the storm.

Other state officials said falling trees and toppled power lines had caused damage to homes, while the storm surge damaged numerous coastal properties and other buildings.

A homeless man in Marion County, south of Gainesville, was killed when he was hit by a tree, Scott said at a news conference.

Flooding was reported across many of Florida's western coastal communities, where residents who had been urged to evacuate were beginning to return and assess the damage.

Emergency crews rescued dozens of people from rising flood waters in Pasco and Hernando county.

Local television stations broadcast video footage of buffeting winds, lashing rain and flooded streets.

The cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg escaped major damaged, but the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans Tampa Bay, was closed because of high winds.

The neighboring state of Georgia placed 56 counties on a state of emergency, and thousands more homes and businesses had their power cut as Hermine moved up the coast. North Carolina put 33 counties on emergency standby.

Though sustained winds had weakened to 80 kilometers per hour, the National Hurricane Center warned that tens of millions of Americans were still at risk as the storm headed northeast toward the Atlantic seaboard.

Forecasters said Hermine could strengthen again over the Atlantic Ocean, bringing additional rain to coastal North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey, which could lead to flooding.

Florida was last hit by Hurricane Wilma in October 2005, which left five people dead and caused an estimated $23 billion (20.6 billion euros) in damage.

mm/bw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)