Weather

The city of Clearwater has set out to understand how it will be impacted by climate change, sea level rise, and the devastation of tropical storms and hurricanes.

Tropical Depression Nicole was moving through Georgia on Friday after a day of causing havoc as it churned through Florida as a hurricane and then a tropical storm.

Homes that were once beachfront property collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean in the wake of Hurricane Nicole's landfall on Florida's east coast. That same risk of beach erosion also exists in the Tampa Bay area.

Tropical Storm Nicole officially weakened into a tropical depression as it makes its way over the Florida panhandle. The storm made landfall in the middle of the night as Hurricane Nicole near North Hutchinson Island, just south of Vero Beach. 

The City of Tampa was prepared for the worst of Tropical Storm Nicole but was able to dodge the major brunt of the storm, Mayor Jane Castor said Thursday.

Polk County's emergency operations center did not get any reports of major damages from Tropical Storm Nicole. 

Tropical Storm Nicole's impacts were felt from Daytona Beach to Melbourne to Polk County and over to the Florida West Coast. Video from drones and from folks on the ground shows the destruction left after the Category 1 storm made landfall.

Counties in the Tampa Bay area have been monitoring Tropical Storm Nicole throughout the week as it approached the east coast of Florida. The storm made landfall early Thursday morning, and there are still ongoing closures in the area.

A nearly 60-year-old fishing pier in South Florida partially collapsed early Thursday morning when Nicole made landfall as a hurricane. The remaining portion of the pier suffered extensive damage, with many planks and railings missing.

When Hurricane Nicole made landfall early Thursday morning on Florida's east coast, the storm brought strong winds and storm surge — and apparently unearthed the remains of multiple bodies buried in the sand.