Nicole leaves thousands without power across Tampa Bay

Tropical Storm Nicole is currently barreling across the state of Florida, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power in its path.

Roughly 346,000 Florida residents have already reported power outages, and many of those are in the Tampa Bay area.

As of now, over 19,000 Duke Energy customers in  the Tampa Bay area are reporting power outages, and another 12,000 TECO customers are also without power.

"Our crews are ready to begin power restoration as soon as weather conditions safely allow," said Todd Fountain Duke Energy Florida's storm director in a statement. "I thank our customers for their patience and urge everyone to take the necessary precautions to protect your family and property."
Yesterday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said 16,000 linemen would be available to help restore power. 

Nicole made landfall at around 3 a.m. this morning near Vero Beach as a Category 1 hurricane, but was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm.

The storm is expected to continue to weaken as it treks across the peninsula towards the Tampa Bay region, which is currently under a tropical storm watch, before it turns north and heads into southern Georgia on Friday, likely as a depression.

According to the Associated Press, the last time a hurricane made landfall in Florida in November was Kate in 1985, which was a Category 2 storm, and before that the Yankee Hurricane of 1935.