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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 8 November 2022

Hurricane watch: Subtropical storm eyes Florida, Bahamas

By FRIEDA FRISARO and to the north of the center,
JULIE WALKER Associated and outside of the cone,
Press and affect much of the
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Florida peninsula and por-
(AP) — Subtropical Storm tions of the southeast U.S.,"
Nicole is now expected to the advisory said.
become a hurricane over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
the Bahamas before hit- declared a state of emer-
ting Florida's east coast gency for 34 counties in the
on Wednesday, just well potential path of the storm,
enough after polls close to out of an abundance of
avoid disrupting voting on caution.
Election Day, forecasters Large parts of the state
said. have yet to recover from
"We won't really start to destructive Hurricane Ian,
see any significant impacts which slammed into south-
from Nicole until really Tues- western Florida on Sept. 28
day night to Wednesday, as a strong Category 4 hur-
so really it shouldn't have ricane and dumped mas-
a huge impact on voting sive amounts of rain, caus-
operations tomorrow," hur- ing flooding across central
ricane specialist Phillippe Florida. Along Florida's cen-
Papin told The Associated tral Atlantic coast, nervous
Press. county managers warned
"Unfortunately this is going Election officials in some Florida counties urged people to vote early Sunday, Nov. 6, where residents that the tropical
to be a very large storm, possible as a potential tropical system threatens the state on Election Day. storm could bring more
with a very large wind field Associated Press flooding and beach ero-
on the north side. This is go- effect for the northwest- Surge Watch has been is- day, it had top winds of sion only weeks after Ian
ing to cause quite substan- ern Bahamas and Florida's sued from Broward County 45 mph (75 kmh) and was inundated the region with
tial surf, potentially danger- Atlantic Coast from Hal- to halfway up Georgia's centered about 465 miles unprecedented levels of
ous storm surge somewhere landale Beach, north of coast. The hurricane cen- (750 kilometers) east of the water.
along the Florida east Miami, to just north of Day- ter predicted a particularly northwestern Bahamas, the In Volusia County, home to
coast, and heavy rainfall tona Beach, as well as in- wobbly forward movement advisory said. Daytona Beach, county of-
and probably significant land to Lake Okeechobee, for Nicole as it approach- "Do not focus on the exact ficials advised coastal resi-
winds over a large area," the Miami-based National es Florida before crossing track of Nicole since it is ex- dents to consider moving
Papin added. Hurricane Center said in into the northwest Gulf of pected to be a large storm to a safer location as soon
Hurricane watches are in its latest advisory.A Storm Mexico. At 1 p.m. Mon- with hazards extending well as possible.q

Neighborhoods evacuated near burning Georgia chemical plant

By RUSS BYNUM Associated threats from toxic smoke said fire Capt. Eric Pross- had largely died down by of tankers carrying more
Press and potential explosions. wimmer, who was on the late morning. But fire still water to the scene.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Emergency responders scene with fire crews from burned inside, Prosswim- "We're going to take very
large fire burned Monday safely evacuated a small Jacksonville, Florida, sent to mer said, and changing calculated, slow steps at
inside a chemical plant handful of employees work- help battle the flames. winds could stir up more this and make sure no one's
on the coast of Georgia, ing when the fire broke out The fire sent a large plume smoke. Hazardous materi- in jeopardy," Prosswimmer
where authorities ordered at about 4 a.m. Monday at of thick smoke into the air als crews were working to said, adding: "Right now
about 100 nearby homes the plant outside the port from the plant, located lo- survey the threats to deter- we're staged way far back
to evacuate because of city of Brunswick, Georgia, cated about 70 miles (113 mine whether evacuations from it and some of it's just
kilometers) south of Savan- should cover a larger area. being allowed to burn."
nah. Officials said they were He said one firefighter suf-
As a precaution, local mostly concerned about fering from exhaustion had
emergency officials or- hazards posed by smoke been taken to a hospital
dered neighborhoods with- drifting into populated ar- and was in stable condi-
in a 1-mile (1.6 kilomter) ra- eas. There had also been tion. There were no other
dius of the plant to evacu- explosions at the site. injuries.
ate. People within a 3-mile Prosswimmer said heat The plant is operated by
(5-kilomter) radius were from the fire had caused Symrise, a German com-
told to shelter in place. three metal tanks contain- pany that produces fra-
Wayne Neal, chairman of ing chemicals to explode. grances, flavoring and oth-
Glynn County's elected Fighting the blaze was fur- er ingredients for foods and
Board of Commission- ther complicated when cosmetics.
ers, estimated roughly 100 firefighters depleted more The Georgia plant manu-
households had been told than 1 million gallons (3.8 factures fragrance ingre-
Members with the Waynesville Fire and Rescue Department to evacuate. Sheriff's depu- million litres) of water stored dients used in perfumes,
take a break from battling large fire that burned inside a ties were using patrol cars in tanks on the site. detergents and house-
chemical plant on the coast of Georgia, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, to block entrances to af- Prosswimmer said firefight- hold cleaners, said Smy-
in Brunswick, Ga. fected neighborhoods. ers had backed away from rise spokesperson Christina
Associated Press Smoke from the plant the fire to await the arrival Witter.q