Palm Beach escaped major damage from Hurricane Nicole, and cleanup work began early Thursday morning.
Nicole made landfall on Hutchinson Island just south of Vero Beach at 3am today as a 75 mph hurricane.
By 7:00 a.m., it had turned into a 60 mph tropical storm reaching about 55 miles east of Tampa. A tropical storm warning has been canceled for Florida’s east coast south of Jupiter.
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Town officials began investigating the damage early this morning and were pleased with the minor damage.
“We seem to have weathered everything well,” said Police Department spokesman Capt. William Rothrock.
Public Works Administration Director Paul Brasil said no damage had been reported to buildings in the town by this morning, but warned it was in the early stages of the assessment process.
Rothrock said the power outage was isolated and small across the town, leaving some sections of the Lake Trail flooded.
The town’s beaches remain closed due to surf conditions but are expected to reopen on Friday morning, the town said. Public beach access from Sunrise Road to Wells Road has been blocked by erosion and safety concerns will remain closed until Thursday.
Mayor Kirk Bruin said the town has withdrawn a state of emergency that it issued on Tuesday. The order has closed the town’s parks and beaches until further notice.
Early this morning, some traffic lights were out in the Midtown area and power lines were down in the North End. A large tree had also fallen at 1446 N. Ocean Blvd.
Town police and the Florida Power and Light crew were at the scene, the town said.
Three small boats washed up on private property near Palm Beach Inlet, and another was half-sunk in the Intracoastal Waterway near the North End, Rothrock said.
Rothrock said the town’s police will spend the day answering calls for service and searching the town overnight for anything out of place or suspicious.
The town has surveyed the coast, and Brazil said there had been significant erosion in some areas.
He added that the sea is still too high to quantify the volume loss.
All storm and sanitary stations remained operational.
Crews are clearing debris from the town’s roads and collection of residential and yard trash will resume later today. Recycling will resume on Monday.
City Hall reopened at noon today and all town services resumed at that time. The Mandel Recreation Center also reopened at noon.
Phipps Ocean Park, Seaview Park Tennis Center and Palm Beach Par 3 are scheduled to open on Friday morning.
Construction workers returned to work with workers at several sites in the North End and Midtown, telling the Daily News there was no damage.
Palm Beach Public School and Palm Beach Day Academy will reopen on Friday after closing Wednesday and Thursday.
For more information on the town, please visit www.TownofPalmBeach.com.
This is a developing story. Please check the latest information.
Kimberly Miller of the Palm Beach Post and Darrell Hofheinz of the Palm Beach Daily News contributed to this article.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist for the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can contact her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Please support our journalism. Subscribe now.
