TAMPA, Fla. (ClarksvilleNOW – Reuters) – Wind and rain from Hurricane Hermine slammed Florida’s northern Gulf Coast before it weakened to a tropical storm and plowed its way overland toward the Atlantic Coast on Friday. Hermine made landfall early on Friday, bringing heavy rains and packing winds of 80 mph, causing damage and leaving tens of thousands of households without power along Florida’s Gulf Coast. “It is a mess… we have high water in numerous places,” Virgil Sandlin, the police chief in Cedar Key, Florida, told the Weather Channel. Strong gusts downed power lines and trees as widespread flooding inundated communities in Florida before the hurricane weakened into a tropical storm as it reached Georgia and South Carolina, where conditions deteriorated early on Friday morning. “The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will continue to cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the National Hurricane Center said. The center warned that some areas along Florida’s northern Gulf Coast may experience 9 feet of flooding. Florida Governor Rick Scott said the storm could lead to deaths and told residents to stay indoors until it had passed. More on this here!