Over 272,000 customers without power as tropical storm hits Florida

Miami, Nov 11 (IANS) More than 272,000 customers were without power across the US state of Florida, due to the impact of tropical storm Nicole, according to utility tracker Poweroutage.us.

Nicole made landfall along the east coast of Florida just south of Vero Beach as a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday morning and later weakened to a tropical storm, reports Xinhua news agency.

Florida's emergency management tweeted later in the day that tropical storm conditions are still being experienced across much of the state due to Nicole.

"Please don't go out & visit impacted areas," the management warned.

"Not only is it unsafe, but it also inhibits first responders."

Additional weakening is forecast while Nicole moves over land during the next day or two, and the storm is likely to become a tropical depression over Georgia Thursday night or early Friday.

Nicole is an unusual development for Florida for November as state has been hit by hurricanes in the month only twice before in 1935 and 1985.

Nicole's late arrival follows a relatively quiet storm season -- for the first time since 1997 not a single hurricane or tropical storm formed in the Atlantic basin this August.