The hurricane was downgraded just before dawn, after leaving tens of thousands without power in Florida and moving north-east towards Georgia

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The first hurricane to strike Florida in 11 years left a messy trail of “severe” flooding, downed power lines and trees across the state on Friday, but initial fears of a massive and powerful “life-threatening” storm appeared to have been unfounded.

Hurricane Hermine makes landfall in Florida Read more

A homeless man sleeping in the open near Ocala was killed when he was hit by a tree, officials said at a morning briefing, but otherwise there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries caused by the storm.

Hurricane Hermine made landfall near St Marks, on the gulf coast and south of the state capital, Tallahassee, at about 1.30am, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported. A category 1 storm with sustained winds of 80mph, it was moving north-east towards Georgia at 15mph.

It was downgraded to a tropical storm just before dawn, after leaving tens of thousands without power and flooding some coastal areas with a storm surge of up to 12ft.

Some of the most extensive damage was reported in Taylor and Franklin counties, where dozens of homes and businesses were under water.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A front end loader clears debris from the street after Hurricane Hermine passed through on Friday. Photograph: John Raoux/AP

“Alligator Point got beat up pretty bad,” said Pamela Brownell, emergency management director for Franklin.

The island of Cedar Key in Levy County was cut off and in Pasco County the fire department rescued 18 people from rising floodwater.

Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, said at the morning press conference that although reports were still coming in and that damage assessment would take several days, the homeless man in Ocala appeared to have been the only casualty so far of the state’s first hurricane since Wilma in October 2005.

“First I was worried about the storm surge, it’s pretty scary, 6ft to 12ft,” he said. “We got a little less rain than we thought [but] what I worry about now is people driving in standing water, touching power lines. We have a lot of power lines down.”

Scott warned that despite tornado watches being cancelled and the worst of the weather having passed, conditions would remain dangerous for some time to come. Residents emerging to assess damage needed to “be careful”, he said, adding: “There’s still a lot of roads closed. Hopefully by the end of the day we’ll have a lot of this cleaned up.”

Ahead of the storm’s arrival, Scott declared a state of emergency for 51 counties, freeing federal funds for emergency response and allowing easier movement of national guard troops.

On Friday, Florida’s electricity companies were working to restore power to more than 200,000 consumers who were cut off at the height of the storm.

According to the NHC’s 11am advisory on Friday, Hermine was set to dump heavy rain over Georgia and the Carolinas before emerging into the Atlantic off the coast of North Carolina or Virginia on Saturday, possibly strengthening again into a post-tropical hurricane.

“Hermine is expected to remain a dangerous cyclone through five days,” NHC senior hurricane specialist Dr Michael Brennan wrote. “After that time the cyclone should turn northward and nearly stall out.”

Pat McCrory, the North Carolina governor, said 33 counties in the east of the state were under emergency declaration as Hermine approached, still carrying winds between 50mph and 60mph and threatening up to 8in of rainfall.

“Our goal continues to be over-prepared and underwhelmed,” he said at a Friday press briefing, announcing flood and high wind warnings for several counties directly in the storm’s path.

“The safety of our residents and visitors remains our top priority going into this holiday weekend. We urge everyone to be prepared, especially for potentially dangerous flooding.”

Meteorologist Ryan Maue of weatherbell.com warned of a possible devastating storm surge along the north-eastern seaboard of the US, if Hermine loops back towards land early next week as a rejuvenated hurricane. In 2012, the mid-Atlantic coastline, stretching north to New Jersey, suffered significant damage from superstorm Sandy.

“Most likely Hermine stays off coast Labor Day into Tuesday but proximity and enormous wind plus waves/swell/surge may be devastating,” Maue tweeted.