Nicole heads up East Coast after 4 deaths in Florida

Nicole may strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall overnight near Fort Pierce. Over the next 24 hours, the biggest threats for Florida will be damaging beach erosion, storm surge up to 5 feet, isolated tornadoes and wind gusts around 70 mph.

Hurricane warnings are in effect from West Palm Beach to Daytona Beach. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for much of Florida and extend up to coastal Georgia and South Carolina.

After landfall, Nicole will quickly weaken as it moves across central Florida and the Panhandle, but it'll bring rain, powerful winds and storm surge.

Three feet to 5 feet of storm surge is expected from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville while Florida’s Big Bend area could see 2 to 4 feet of storm surge.

The heaviest rain -- 8 inches -- will hit central Florida. Flash flooding is also possible.

As Nicole moves north, the heavy rain will stretch into the Mid-Atlantic and New England. Pennsylvania to Vermont could see 2 to 4 inches of rain. Philadelphia, New York City and Boston could see 2 inches of rain and gusty winds.

-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin

Nicole made landfall as a tropical storm on Great Abaco Island in the northwestern Bahamas just before noon local time on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm currently has maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour.

Disney World parks will close early Wednesday evening and will remain closed through Thursday morning due to the storm.

Once Nicole makes landfall early Thursday in Martin County as a Category 1 hurricane, the storm is expected to cross the state of Florida, hit the Gulf of Mexico and possibly make landfall again along Florida’s Big Bend, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned.

The major concerns for Nicole are winds, flooding, beach erosion and possible tornadoes, DeSantis said.

He said 15 shelters are open for those urged to evacuate.

The governor said 16,000 linemen have been staged to immediately work on restoring power as soon as the storm passes.

-ABC News’ Alexandra Faul