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Tropical Storm Nicole's impact: Condo evacuations grow in Daytona Beach Shores

7
Clayton Park, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
·5 min read

Residents were ordered to evacuate 11 oceanfront condominium complexes in Daytona Beach Shores on Wednesday because of safety concerns as Tropical Storm Nicole barreled towards Florida.

On Thursday, hours after the severe storm had passed, the beachside city ordered the evacuation of three more condo buildings.

"We did have to order three more," said Daytona Beach Shores Mayor Nancy Miller shortly after noon on Thursday. "We have sheriff's deputies assisting us now in evacuating them."

The additional evacuations were ordered after inspections found significant damage that could lead to loss of life, she said.

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When residents will be allowed to return remained unclear as of early Thursday afternoon.

19 hotels, condo buildings identified so far as 'compromised'

Volusia County officials held a press conference at the county's Emergency Operations Center on Thursday to provide an update on the damage caused locally by Tropical Storm Nicole.

"As of last, we've got 19 hotels or condo buildings and 40 single-family homes that are (structurally) compromised," said county spokesman Kevin Captain. "There are some buildings that have been partially collapsed and some that need to have an engineering inspection."

Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald said the county had preliminary reports of "11 compromised structures in Daytona Beach Shores and Wilbur-by-the-Sea. We anticipate more structures will be identified as compromised as these assessments continue.

"The structural damage along our coastline is unprecedented," he added. "This is going to be a long road to recovery."

Daytona Beach Shores resident Donna Reeves Fremont posted a photo on Facebook that she took shortly before noon Thursday of heavy waves continuing to erode the ground beneath the pool decks of two nearby oceanfront condos: The Dimucci Tower at 3797 S. Atlantic Ave., and The Sanibel at 3799 S. Atlantic Ave. The pool deck for the Sanibel had already partially collapsed.

Daytona Beach Shores resident Donna Reeves Fremont took this photo of heavy waves crashing against two neighboring oceanfront condos whose pool decks were damaged during Tropical Storm Nicole earlier in the morning on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. Fremont lives in The Ashley Condominium complex two doors north of the Dimucci Tower whose pool area is in the foreground, and the collapsing pool deck for the Sanibel condos.

Fremont said The Ashley Condominium where she and her husband Paul live appears to have escaped significant damage.

"Our seawall is getting big sinkholes on the grass side of it and the pool has a few blocks that cracked, but we've been fortunate so far," she said.

Miller said it's unfortunate that Tropical Storm Nicole damaged some pool decks, but said the mandatory evacuation orders for condo buildings are only being issued in cases where there is a significant risk of loss of life.

"I've never experienced anything like this," said Miller, who earlier on Thursday morning saw a pool deck on one of the evacuated condo buildings on the verge of collapsing.

Three minutes later, the pool deck structure at the Pirates Cove condos at 3501 S. Atlantic Ave. collapsed.

National television reporter Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel and his crew were on hand to capture the structure's collapse on camera after having interviewed Miller, the Daytona Beach Shores mayor said.

VIDEO: Watch Daytona Beach Shores pool deck collapse as Tropical Storm Nicole rages

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Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane around 3 a.m. Thursday near Vero Beach. It has since been downgraded to a tropical storm as it makes its way across the Florida peninsula.

While Daytona Beach Shores is a two-hour drive north of Vero Beach, Nicole continued to send outer bands of heavy wind and rain throughout the morning on Thursday across east-central Florida, including Volusia and Flagler counties.

'It's been getting worse every year'

Nicole also created significant storm surges that continued to eat away the coastline which has yet to recover from the extensive beach erosion caused by Tropical Storm Ian in late September.

"I've been here 13 years and have never seen beach erosion this bad before," said Fremont. "It's been getting worse every year. Ian started it and nothing had been done to replenish the sand, at least nothing yet that's worked, because it's only been a few weeks."

Miller said residents of the evacuated condo buildings in her city would likely not be allowed to return to their homes until Friday at the earliest, adding that the wait could be even longer than that.

"They cannot come back until our Chief Building Official Steve Edmunds reinspects the buildings and deems them safe," Miller said. Edmunds had to wait until high tide was over, she added.

Edmunds has now begun the process of checking all of the buildings to assess whether they have been damaged, and if so, to what extent.

There is a possibility even more oceanfront condos could be added to the city's list of unsafe structures, Miller cautioned, although she added, "I don't anticipate it."

Miller said the city began the day on Wednesday with a list of four oceanfront condo buildings needing to be evacuated because they were deemed as safety risks during Tropical Storm Nicole. By Wednesday afternoon, seven more condo buildings had to be added to that list.

"We went door to door to every single one of those condos asking everyone to leave," she said.

Here's the list so far

The following is a partial list of the evacuated condo and resort buildings in Daytona Beach Shores:

  • Tower Grande: 2055 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • Opus Condominium: 2071 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • Castaways Beach Resort: 2043 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • St. Kitts Condominiums: 3855 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • Grand Coquina: 3333 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • Dumucci Twin Towers North and South: 3311 and 3315 S. Atlantic Ave. [Note: The similarly named Dimucci Tower is not on the evacuation list.]

  • Marbella Condominiums: 3343 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • Pirates Cove: 3501 S. Atlantic Ave.

  • Sunglow Resort: 3647 S. Atlantic Ave.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Condo evacuations grow in Daytona Beach Shores due to Nicole