MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Nicole churned toward the northwestern Bahamas and Florida's Atlantic coastline Tuesday and was forecast to develop into a hurricane over the next couple of days, forecasters said.
Forecasters said heavy rain could fall on areas still recovering from flooding left by Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida's southwestern Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm in late September before dumping rain across much of the central part of the state.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Abacos, Berry Islands, Bimini and Grand Bahama Island, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Other areas of the Bahamas, including Andros Island, New Province and Eleuthera remained under a tropical storm warning.
Residents in at least three Florida counties -- Flagler, Palm Beach and Volusia -- were ordered to evacuate from barrier islands, low-lying areas and mobile homes.
The evacuation orders are set to take effect today. Officials at Orlando International Airport, the seventh-busiest in the U.S., said commercial operations would stop this afternoon until it was safe to resume flights.
In the Bahamas, long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores earlier Tuesday, said Eliane Hall, who works at a hotel in Great Abaco island.
Authorities said they were especially concerned about those now living in about 100 motorhomes in Grand Bahama after Dorian destroyed their homes in 2019, and about the migrant community in Great Abaco's March Harbor that Capt. Stephen Russell, emergency management authority director, said has grown from 50 acres to 200 acres since Dorian.
The hurricane center said the storm's exact path remains uncertain as it approaches Florida, where it is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane late today or early Thursday.
By Tuesday afternoon, hurricane warnings were issued for a large portion of Florida's Atlantic Coast, from Boca Raton to north of Daytona Beach.
Tropical storm warnings are in place for other parts of the Florida coast, all the way to Altamaha Sound, Ga. The warning area also stretches inland, covering Florida's Lake Okeechobee, with tropical storm watches in effect on the state's Gulf Coast from Bonita Beach in southwestern Florida to the Ochlockonee River in the Panhandle. The tropical storm watch extends north to the South Santee River in South Carolina.
Even if the storm makes landfall along the central Florida coastline, Jack Bevin, a senior hurricane specialist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center, said the effects will be felt as far north as Georgia.
Officials in the Bahamas opened more than two dozen shelters across the archipelago Tuesday as they closed schools and government offices in Abaco, Bimini, the Berry Islands and Grand Bahama.
Authorities warned that airports and seaports will close as the storm nears and won't reopen until Thursday, and they urged people in shantytowns to seek secure shelter.
Some counties in Florida were offering sandbags to residents. In Indian River County, shelters were set to open at 7 a.m. today, though no mandatory evacuation orders had been issued by late morning Tuesday, spokesman Mason Kozac said.
The mandatory evacuation order in Palm Beach County affects 52,000 residents of mobile homes and 67,000 residents of barrier islands, officials said at a news conference. Shelters up and down the coast were opening at 7 a.m. today, officials said.
Schools will be closed in multiple counties across Florida as the storm approaches. Some announced closures through Friday, already an off day because of Veterans Day. Other districts have said they would cancel classes Thursday. The University of Central Florida, one of the largest U.S. universities with 70,000 students and 12,000 employees, was closing today and Thursday.
Walt Disney World outside Orlando planned to close its Typhoon Lagoon water park and two miniature golf courses Thursday.
In South Carolina, forecasters warned that several days of onshore winds from Nicole could pile seawater into places like downtown Charleston. Thursday morning's high tide was predicted to be higher than the water level from Hurricane Ian.
At 4 p.m. Tuesday, the storm was about 285 miles northeast of the northwestern Bahamas and 395 miles east of West Palm Beach, Fla. It was moving at 10 mph, with maximum sustained winds up to 65 mph.
Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 380 miles from the center of the storm, the National Hurricane Center's advisory said.
Information for this article was contributed by Danica Coto, Mike Schneider and Jeffrey Collins of The Associated Press.