Hurricane Hermine hits Florida coast
Hurricane Hermine becomes first to hit Florida in 11 years
What you need to know:
City officials in the state capital Tallahassee, which is in the path of the storm, said at least 70,000 homes were now without power.
Florida. (AP) Hurricane Hermine has made landfall in northern Florida, becoming the first hurricane to hit the state in 11 years.
Hermine hit the Florida Gulf Coast early on Friday as a category one hurricane, bringing with it a heavy storm surge.
Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for 51 counties as residents were braced for the dangerous storm.
Wind gusts reached 80mph (130km/h) on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
City officials in the state capital Tallahassee, which is in the path of the storm, said at least 70,000 homes were now without power.
Weather officials in the city warned of the risk of flash floods and urged people there to move to higher ground, but winds have now started to reduce as the storm moves inland.
"It is a mess... we have high water in numerous places," Virgil Sandlin, the police chief in Cedar Key, told the Weather Channel. "I was here in 1985 for Hurricane Elena and I don't recall anything this bad."
While the area is prone to storms and storm surges, it has not seen a hurricane in close to 4,000 days.
The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma in October 2005, which made landfall in the same year as Katrina and caused five deaths and an estimated $23bn of damage.
