As Nicole looms, Volusia beachside residents, hotels brace for another tropical assault

WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA — Nearly a day before Tropical Storm Nicole’s official arrival, treacherous winds and stinging rain were pelting beachfront homes and empty hotel parking lots along Atlantic Avenue on Wednesday as residents, hotel managers and business owners braced for yet another destructive assault.

For some, Nicole's damage had already begun.

“We had 30 more feet of backyard here this morning,” said Krista Goodrich, property manager for three luxury vacation homes in the 4100 block of South Atlantic Avenue in Wilbur-by-the-Sea.

A little over a month ago, Tropical Storm Ian carved away the first major portion of the dunes behind the home, turning into an unwelcome viral image of the storm’s destruction. On Wednesday, another 30 feet already had been ripped away by winds and surf that are only a taste of what Tropical Storm Nicole might unleash.

“It’s crazy,” said Goodrich, who spent the morning moving furniture from the back portion of the three-bedroom, two-bath beachfront home toward the front of the house, closer to the street.

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At the same time, Goodrich was coming to terms with the realization that at least one of the three side-by-side homes, valued at over $1 million each, might not survive the follow-up punch of Nicole’s impact.

“I don’t know how any of these homes are going to survive,” Goodrich said. “I think it (destruction) is pretty imminent for at least one of them. It’s pretty devastating.”

Nicole expected to come ashore in South Florida as hurricane

A strengthening tropical storm, Nicole made landfall just before noon Wednesday in the Bahamas.

The storm was expected to grow to hurricane strength later in the day before coming ashore late Wednesday or early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane somewhere along the Southeast Florida coast from Palm Beach to the Treasure Coast.

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After expected landfall in Martin or St. Lucie counties, the storm is expected to travel northwest through the state, according to the forecast from the National Hurricane Center. With tropical storm-force winds extending 460 miles from the center, Nicole’s impact was already being felt in Volusia and Flagler counties by Wednesday afternoon.

Volusia County issued evacuation orders effective at 10 a.m. on Wednesday for all areas east of the Intracoastal Waterway; all manufactured and mobile home residents east of Interstate 95; residents in all low-lying areas; residents in any other areas prone to flooding; and all RV parks and all campsites.

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That emptied guests from virtually all the hotels along the popular Volusia County beachfront from Daytona Beach Shores to Ormond Beach.

“I am amazed and wonderfully pleased that every hotel listened to the warning, the mandate of evacuating,” said Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Lodging & Hospitality Association of Volusia County. “Everybody’s prepared; everybody’s ready. We made contact with hotels in Orlando for people who wanted to go over there.”

Davis, who works in an office at Perry’s Ocean Edge Resort in Daytona Beach Shores, said that 8-10 waves were already threatening the hotel’s pool deck on Wednesday morning.

“By the size of this storm, it could be devastating,” Davis said. “We’re not in a good position from the lingering effect of Ian, and it’s not just the beachfront. All these areas, they can’t take more rain. I can only keep my fingers crossed.”

On Wednesday morning, the pool deck at the Hyatt Place Daytona Beach in Daytona Beach Shores already had been swept away ahead of Nicole's arrival.

Strong waves and storm surge also were submerging the Volusia County Beach Safety District 5 Office in Daytona Beach Shores into the Atlantic Ocean.

Empty hotels prepare for the storm

At the 212-room Shores Resort & Spa, also in Daytona Beach Shores, the hotel was sold-out when the mandatory evacuation order was issued, said Rob Burnetti, general manager.

“We’ve evacuated our guests and sandbagged parts of the hotel based on what we learned last time (during Ian),” Burnetti said. “We’ll keep five or six people on property to keep the building safe, hold back any damage we can.”

Burnetti said that communication of the evacuation order could have been done more effectively.

“The communication we got about the evacuation is something we need to work on and improve,” he said. “I think people didn’t consider the difficulty of getting 200 guest rooms off the island in such short order. I understand the reasoning. I just don’t know that the communication was clear considering everything that was at stake.”

Guests also were evacuated from hotels owned and operated by Ormond Beach-based Premier Resorts & Management, said Domien Takx, the company’s vice president of operations.

Premier properties include Hilton Garden Inn; Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites; Best Western Daytona Inn Seabreeze; all in Daytona Beach; as well as the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Daytona Beach Shores.

At those hotels, storm preparation included bringing in outdoor furniture, lowering water levels in hotel pools and running checks on hotel safety systems, Takx said.

“We also have a team of managers and associates standing by for damage and risk assessments as soon as the storm passes and it is safe to return to the hotels,” he said. “We then begin the process of clean-up, repairs and re-opening.”

Also in Daytona Beach, Nicole's impending arrival is unwelcome news at the 323-room Plaza Resort & Spa, a landmark hotel in the core tourist district. There, water, roof and other damages from Ian already have forced the hotel to close its doors for mitigation and repairs, a process that could stretch through 2023.

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To comply with the mandatory evacuation, the hotel sent home a crew of roughly 150 contractors who had been working on those repairs. A small skeleton staff of hotel employees will ride out the storm, said Jonathan Abraham Eid, CEO of Vienna Capital, the hotel’s Los Angeles-based owner.

“We have left maybe a couple people on the property, and I’m on the property myself,” Eid said. “We’re just taking all precautions, trying to cover up any areas that potentially can get damaged. It’s the last thing anyone needs, right? Another hurricane.”

Nicole preparations include the addition of protective window coverings, the placement of sandbags and the relocation of outdoor furniture inside the hotel, Eid said. Despite back-to-back storms, he remains optimistic about the future of the hotel that is in the midst of $45 million worth of improvements, including the addition of new restaurants, a day spa and other amenities.

“Hopefully, we’ll make it back to normal sooner or later,” he said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: In Volusia County, beachside residents, hotels batten down for Nicole