WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. — According to a report from WKMG, homes that were teetering as the beach eroded from Nicole collapsed as the storm battered Florida's east coast.
At least six beachside homes in Wilbur-By-The-Sea have collapsed, but so far no injuries have been reported. WKMG says a man who lives in the area says he saw a house tumble into the ocean.
"We were just standing on the beach and a big section of the wall fell over, hit the support beam, and it fell into the water. It was pretty frightening," he told the news outlet.
A property manager told WKMG that people had to be evacuated from their homes on Wednesday.
"We evacuated this owner [Wednesday] morning. He's headed out of state. He didn't want to see it, obviously," the property manager said.
As Hurricane Nicole approached Florida, a beachside home in Wilbur-By-The-Sea was left on the edge of a sandy cliff Wednesday after a rough storm surge. Surf from Nicole washed away around 20 feet of sand and yard, WKMG reports.
A video of the home shows just inches of sand left between the house and the beach below it, according to WKMG.
The home was already vulnerable after suffering impacts from Hurricane Ian in September and the homeowner said he could not stay because he believed the home could collapse before Nicole finishes passing the area, according to WESH.
A new coastal change forecast from the U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday predicted sandy beaches and dunes in the state would likely see significant impacts from the storm.
“One of the challenges creating this coastal change forecast is that we haven’t fully assessed the significant coastal change brought just more than a month ago from Hurricane Ian,” Kara Doran, USGS oceanographer, and leader of the USGS Coastal Change Hazards Storm Team said in a statement.
“We know Ian caused significant coastal change and likely made the coasts more vulnerable. But, we don’t have updated measurements on how much Ian lowered dune heights so the coastal change Nicole causes may be more significant than what we forecast.”
USGS experts say Nicole's waves and surge are predicted to cause 42 percent of the dunes along Florida's west coast from Bonita Beach to Anclote Key to experience some erosion. It's also projected that 81 percent of dunes along the state's east coast from Miami to the Georgia line will also suffer some level of erosion.
"Approximately 10 percent of Florida’s dunes along sandy beaches from Bonita Beach to Anclote Key and from Panacea to Mexico Beach could be overwashed," USGS stated in the news release.
"On Florida’s east coast from Miami to the Georgia state line, 11 percent of the dunes are forecast to be overwashed."